Urban Development

Urban development must shift from measures that we believe will pay off in the future, to measures that we know reduce emissions now.

We have known for a long time the need to cut greenhouse gas emissions related to urban development, without being able to implement a gradual shift towards low-emission cities in Norway. We must therefore shift urban development from measures that we believe will pay off in the future, to measures that we know reduce emissions here and now.

To achieve this, we must become better at altering buildings that already exists, being on team with nature and implement the opportunities that lie within new technology and solutions.

Three important measures needed in urban development:

Urban development on nature's terms will not only reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but also help capture and sequester more CO2 from the atmosphere than today.

New urban development projects should not reduce natural space and lead to encroachment on nature, but rather contribute to increasing biomass and repairing ecosystems.

There are many other benefits of introducing more nature in the city, such as increased biodiversity, better climate change adaptation, increased well-being, quality of living, mental and physical public health, etc.

In addition to reducing the need for space and transportation, cities have a great potential to give us more quality with less resource use than more sparsely populated areas. At the same time, we know that cities can have ecological footprints that are many times larger than their physical footprints.

Climate-friendly neighborhoods, with short-distance qualities that reduce the need for resources per person, enable more sustainable consumption - both as a result of a concentration of qualities, and by building robust communities that stimulate participation, experimentation, sharing, reusing and local production.

Smart cities can facilitate a more comprehensive and efficient use of resources by combining digital intelligence with existing urban systems.

Smart cities can facilitate a sharing economy of goods and services that provides an increased experience of access and accessibility, without leading to environmentally and health-damaging consumption.

How do we achieve these three climate shifts?

Read the Skift-note on Urban Development here. (April 2020, in Norwegian)