Self-Sustainable City’s Post

The Good City, Democracy & Power The final blog in my series about 'the good city' explores the importance of democracy to shaping our cities. It also identifies key players in our cities, like universities, who appear to lack any community accountability at all, and reflects on the appropriate distribution of power. Some of it may surprise you. Read the new blog here: https://lnkd.in/e4kZXJJN

How you commute and the time spent commuting to work can affect a person's well-being. Learn more about this study done by Selkirk Innovates here: https://lnkd.in/gUyJ7muw

Title: The Bridge of Foresight In the quaint town of Eldoria, there stood an ancient, yet sturdy bridge called the Bridge of Foresight. It was the only passage over the treacherous River Sylph, connecting Eldoria to the rest of the world. One day, a wise old engineer named Mr. Grayson came to town. He examined the bridge and announced, “This bridge, though standing, is weakening. For a small fee, I can reinforce it, preventing a future catastrophe.” The townspeople, however, were skeptical. “Why pay for something that might not even happen?” they argued. The bridge had stood for ages; why would it fail now? Mr. Grayson, determined to showcase the importance of his advice, set up a small booth at the bridge’s entrance. He offered detailed inspections and minor repairs for a minimal fee. But day after day, people passed by, ignoring his warnings and advice. “We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it,” they’d laugh. Months passed, and the bridge continued to weaken. One fateful day, as the townspeople gathered for the annual Eldoria Festival, a thunderous crack echoed through the valley. The bridge had collapsed, plunging several people into the river below and cutting off the town from vital resources. Panic ensued. Families were separated, trade halted, and the town’s economy started to crumble. The cost to rebuild the bridge was astronomical, and the townspeople had to pool all their resources. Life savings were spent, and dreams shattered, all to rebuild what once could have been saved for a fraction of the cost. In the aftermath, as they rebuilt their lives, the people of Eldoria often reflected on Mr. Grayson’s words. They had learned a hard lesson: Sometimes, the cost of prevention is minuscule compared to the price of repair. A little foresight could have saved them much more than money; it could have saved their dreams. This story can serve as a metaphor for the importance of valuing preventative measures in health and other aspects of life, emphasizing the short-sightedness of ignoring such advice.

#goldenrulemonth This week, a strong wind uprooted and blew over two mature cherry trees in my back garden in London. The bereft feeling leaves an oddly hollow echo, like tracing a gap where a missing tooth should be. Placemaking is a kind of rootedness. Where and how we choose to live is at the heart of the #SustainableDevelopmentGoals and most especially #SDGGoal11, "making cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable." Cities represent the future of global living. The world’s population reached 8 billion on 2022 , over 50% in urban areas. This figure is only expected to rise, with 70% of people expected to live in cities by 2050. The climate-resilient future, therefore, will be decided by the decisions we make for our citiies and how we choose to live in them. We will shape our buildings, and our buildings thereafter shape us. What would a golden rule city look and feel like? What if we were to treat our out citizens as we would wish to be treated? Moreover, what would it mean to treat the City herself as we would wish to be treated? In the 1986 movie, Crocodile Dundee, our antipodean bushman comes to New York City and asks haplessly, “How many people live in the city?”. On being told, “8 million”, he delivers the punchline: “All those people living together so cooped up together? New York must be the friendliest place in the world!” The joke is of course that New York is famously not the friendliest place in the world. And yet… The exhibition of kindness in city life is so common, so casual, that we omit to see it. It is the invisible currency which knits together our lives. Every petty interaction, every minor civility, every door-held-open-for-the-stranger-behind-me…. is a link in a chain of community. This idea of reciprocity is at its core of how we build our community; for every micro-aggression, there are at least a thousand micro-kindnesses, undetectable to the naked eye. These kindnesses are so frequent, so abundant, they become commonplace, we forget to see them; the acts of cruelty are only egregious because of their relative scarcity. And yet, we forget.. Moreover, the City becomes an imaginative space, where we re-invent ourselves. Every social interaction becomes more than the sum of its parts. The aggregation of every positive exchange becomes a beacon of possibility. Cities are themselves places of continuous reinvention, where we embrace futurity and celebrate tradition See the link for the discussion on urbanism I hosted at Misk Global #YouthMajlis, where 4 different views of how regenerative cities are brought into being: through youth activism in Asia, technology, civic leadership in South America and the creation of an entirely new urban model in Saudi Arabia with Temuulen Enkhbat Vice-Curator, Global Shapers, Ulaanbaatar Hub, Mongolia; David Henry CEO, of @; Mauricio Rodas Former Mayor of Quito, Ecuador; Jan Wurzbacher Co-CEO and Founder of Climeworks.

Pre-order the "Nature of Our Cities" by Nadina Galle for summertime reading and get ready to co-create regenerative communities. "Stirring exploration of how innovators from around the world are combining urban nature with emerging technologies, protecting the planet’s cities from the effects of climate change and safeguarding the health of their inhabitants." The Nature Conservancy National Geographic BABLE Smart Cities Nature Smart Cities Dive CITIES FORUM Cities Alliance C40 Cities

Should Universities be accountable to their local communities? As major employers, sometimes global in outlook, what role should our HE institutions play in their local communities? Or is this a distraction from their true mission? This is one of several issues I discuss in my final blog in a series looking at what makes for a 'Good City'. Read it here: Blog: Cities, Democracy & Power https://lnkd.in/e4kZXJJN

The "Pathways from compact city to subjective well-being" published in the Handbook of Quality of Life Research: Place and Space Perspectives. It was an honor to work with Bob Marans, one of the true pioneers of environmental satisfaction and neighborhood studies. The chapter provides new evidence on how the compact city relates to subjective well-being via multiple pathways: - urban mobility - social relationships - health - leisure activities - emotional responses - work - residential well-being Findings expand on previous relevant work: https://lnkd.in/dQq3zXJt https://lnkd.in/d47TuTu6 https://lnkd.in/dxmc9f5J https://lnkd.in/dZw9mxpk Read more: https://lnkd.in/dby7Gq_T

https://lnkd.in/d-3isjyq ”In the encounters, the rat and the human were both affecting and been affected but the effects were shaped by, for example, situational, social and cultural factors and storytellers’ personal attitudes and perceptions. The affects of the encounters were thus sticky and complex. Studying urban rat encounters and the affects that arise in them diversifies our understanding of the relationship between humans and rats and provides new knowledge about relationship with them. Multifaceted affects open up space to discuss how to treat urban rats and other liminal and troublesome inhabitants of our shared urban environment.

link: https://lnkd.in/dWcSd-MM "With the world becoming increasingly urbanized, this book aims to address how residents and areas around the world have responded to calls for developing livable cities. The book offers case studies on a broad selection of cities and examines how these cities are attempting to achieve the goal of becoming a livable city. It draws on the interdisciplinary expertise of both academics and practitioners from areas around the globe. Chapters examine the following questions: • How is "livable" defined? • Is there an official policy trying to reach it? • How did the area get to be livable? • What tools/techniques were used to achieve livability? • Are there any metrics for determining livability? • Is the area livable for everyone or certain groups? • How do we keep a city livable?"

More surprising findings from recent mass mobility data analysis that can support vibrant urban planning and neighborhood development.