Links

The Rooftop Gardening Project

The Rooftop Gardening Project is an innovative partnership between Alternatives, an international cooperation network, and Santropol Roulant, a community organisation in Montreal. Together we are making widespread rooftop gardening a reality in Montreal and around the world. Our novel soil-less gardens empower urban residents to produce their own food, green their neighbourhoods and build healthy communities.

http://english.rooftopgardens.ca/

(Added: Fri Nov 11 2005   Modified: Mon Nov 28 2005   Hits: 341)

Energy Efficiency Guide for Industry in Asia

This Guide has been developed for Asian companies who want to improve energy efficiency through Cleaner Production and for stakeholders who want to help them. The Guide includes a methodology, case studies for more than 40 Asian companies in 5 industry sectors, technical information for 25 energy equipments, training materials, a contact and information database, and much more...

http://www.energyefficiencyasia.org/

(Added: Thu Jan 19 2006   Hits: 237)

Environment and Urbanization

This twice-yearly journal, published by the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), focuses on urban and environmental issues and their interconnections, with a particular emphasis on Africa, Asia and Latin America (where most of world's urban population now lives). Each issue of the journal focuses on a particular theme and includes between 9 and 15 papers on that theme, papers responding to the themes of previous issues and a Book Notes section with details of new publications. Examples of journal themes include: globalization and cities; chronic poverty; ecological urbanization; meeting the Millennium Development Goals in urban areas; participatory governance; violence and security; water and sanitation; sustainable cities; and rural-urban linkages. Most issues of the journal include profiles of innovative organizations; some include papers on participatory tools and methods and a guide to the literature. A full text of all its issues (from its first issue in April 1989) is available on-line. All but the issues from the past two years are open-access.

http://eau.sagepub.com/

(Added: Wed Jan 31 2007   Hits: 136)

Forced to Slum It

John Vidal Friday October 10, 2003 The Guardian Globalisation bears a heavy part of the blame for the more than 900 million people who are driven to live in urban squalor

http://www.guardian.co.uk/globalisation/story/0,7369,1059982,00.html

(Added: Fri Oct 10 2003   Modified: Mon Oct 13 2003   Hits: 249)

Government housing project excludes poorest of the poor in South Africa

IRIN, UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, November 2007. Thousands of the poorest residents in Cape Town, South Africa, are facing eviction from an informal settlement to make way for a government housing project. About 20,000 residents of the Joe Slovo informal settlement near Langa, a township about 15km from Cape Town along the N2, the main access road to and from the airport, are opposing their forced removal to Delft, about 20km northeast of the city, because they say it would reduce their standard of living further and make it difficult and more expensive to travel to the city for work.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=75102

(Added: Mon Nov 05 2007   Hits: 38)

In pictures: Leaving Cape Town's shacks

As part of a series on housing in South Africa, these photographs tell the stories of South Africans moving from slums to proper housing. Yet the challenges for other families remain vast. Each year, 48,000 people arrive in the province from elsewhere in search of work, yet the current budget allows the province to build only 18,000 houses per year. (Justin Pearce, BBC, June 2006)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/picture_gallery/06/africa_leaving_cape_town0s_shacks/html/1.stm

(Added: Thu Jun 29 2006   Hits: 124)

Metropolis

Metropolis is an international association of 77 global cities. It works towards developing solutions to issues affecting large cities such as urban planning and development, the economy, the environment, transport, infrastructure and communications.

http://www.metropolis.org/

(Added: Wed Aug 07 2002   Modified: Mon Nov 28 2005   Hits: 219)

Resource centre on Urban Agriculture and Forestry (RUAF)

The main aim of RUAF is to facilitate the integration of urban agriculture in the policies and programmes of national and local governments, technical departments, research centres and NGO's and to facilitate the formulation of projects on urban agriculture with active involvement of all local stakeholders. RUAF is a global resource centre initiated by the international Support Group on Urban Agriculture and is funded by: DGIS (The Netherlands) and IDRC (Canada).

http://www.ruaf.org

(Added: Thu Jan 12 2006   Hits: 180)

State of the World's Cities 2004/5: Globalization and Urban Culture - Press Kit

UN-HABITAT, 2004. State of the World's Cities 2004/5 lauds multiculturalism as an urban phenomenon that should be celebrated, not feared. The State of the World's Cities Report 2004/2005 maintains that multiculturalism enhances the fabric of societies and brings colour and vibrancy to every city it touches. On her part, UN-HABITAT Executive Director Anna Kajumulo Tibaijuka said that the report provided valuable information on progress made in the implementation of the Habitat Agenda and towards the realization of the Millennium Development Goals and Targets on slums, water and sanitation. "The report shows how poverty is increasing in many cities and how this is partly an outcome of the uneven costs and benefits of economic globalization. In addition, the report shows how urban poverty has been increasingly concentrated in particular neighbourhoods that have generally become the habitats of the urban poor and minority groups: racial minorities in some societies, international immigrant groups in others," she said. This press kit contains a number of downloadable documents about the report.

http://www.unhabitat.org/mediacentre/sowckit.asp

(Added: Tue Oct 05 2004   Hits: 250)

The Comparative Urban Studies Project (CUSP)

The Comparative Urban Studies Project (CUSP) was established in 1991 in an effort to bring together U.S. policymakers and urban researchers in a substantive discussion about how to build the viable urban governance structures and strong democratic civic culture that are essential for sustaining cities. Support for the CUSP comes from the Woodrow Wilson Center and from the Office of Urban Programs at the U.S. Agency for International Development. The U.S. Agency for International Development administers the U.S. foreign assistance program providing economic and humanitarian assistance in more than 80 countries worldwide. Research priorities for CUSP include urban health, poverty alleviation, youth populations and conflict, and immigrant communities in cities.

http://wwics.si.edu/index.cfm?topic_id=1410&fuseaction=topics.home

(Added: Fri Mar 21 2003   Modified: Mon Nov 28 2005   Hits: 223)

The Urban Development Institute - Pacific Region

The Urban Development Institute is a national non-profit association (with international affiliations) of the development industry and related professions. The Pacific Region has been active since 1972 with its head office located in Vancouver and chapters operating in Victoria and Kelowna. The nearly 350 corporate members of UDI Pacific Region represent thousands of individuals involved in all facets of land development and planning.

http://www.udi.bc.ca/

(Added: Thu Feb 07 2002   Modified: Mon Nov 28 2005   Hits: 290)

Tomorrow's Crises Today: The Humanitarian Impact of Urbanisation

At present, 3.3 billion people live in urban centres across the globe. By 2030 this number is predicted to reach five billion, with 95 percent of this growth in developing countries. For the first time in history, more than half the human population will live in cities. This looks at the impacts of increased urbanisation (IRIN, September 2007).

http://www.irinnews.org/InDepthMain.aspx?InDepthId=63&ReportId=73996

(Added: Fri Oct 05 2007   Hits: 141)

Urban Development Values

The multiple processes involved in the growth and development of cities and towns in developing and transition countries give rise to many ethical concerns, which are attracting increased attention by decicion-makers, practitioners, scholars, and concerned individuals. This web-site has been established to foster and enrich a dialogue on the values, ethics, and normative standards associated with urban development in less developed and transitional countries.

http://www.developmentvalues.net/

(Added: Tue May 06 2003   Modified: Mon Nov 28 2005   Hits: 213)

Urban environments, wealth and health: shifting burdens and possible responses in low and middle-income nations (pdf)

This paper examines urban health in low- and middle-income countries, in relation to persistent local environmental health burdens, emerging global environmental burdens that will be experienced in urban areas, and most notably those associated with climate change. (IIED Human Settlements Discussion Paper Series, Urban Environment, 2007)

http://www.iied.org/pubs/display.php?o=%2010553IIED

(Added: Mon Feb 18 2008   Hits: 22)

Urban Poverty Research id21

The latest urban poverty research from id21, a free development research reporting service, bringing you the latest and best UK-resourced research on developing countries.

http://www.id21.org/urban/

(Added: Thu Feb 03 2005   Modified: Mon Nov 28 2005   Hits: 221)

Urbanicity

Urbanicity provides city officials with a platform to explore aspects of urban management. Urbanicity information targets city managers, local level policymakers, urban planners and directors of urban service and infrastructure provision. The objectives are to advance their knowledge and understanding of urban issues and to present the tools they need to plan, manage and govern their cities.

http://www.urbanicity.org

(Added: Thu Jun 17 2004   Hits: 250)

World Urbanization Prospects

World Urbanization Prospects: the 2001 Revision, prepared by the United Nations Population Division, presents estimates and projections of urban and rural populations for major areas, regions and countries of the world for the period 1950-2030. It also provides population estimates and projections of urban agglomerations with 750,000 or more inhabitants in 2000 for the period 1950-2015, and the population of all capitals in 2001. The 2001 Revision updates the estimates and projections issued in the 1999 Revision.

http://www.un.org/esa/population/publications/wup2001/wup2001dh.pdf

(Added: Mon Apr 08 2002   Hits: 622)