Pacific \ Cities and urbanisation
In 2014, 54% of the global population was living in urban areas and this is predicted to rise to 66% by 2050. The characteristics of cities differ greatly across countries and regions of the Commonwealth and some issues facing large and megacities will differ from those faced by secondary cities and towns and across the Commonwealth, the degree of urbanisation varies significantly. Whilst 38.1% of the population of the Commonwealth lived in urban settlements in 2014, Commonwealth Europe is 82% urban and Commonwealth South-East Asia 78% with Commonwealth Africa 41%, Commonwealth South Asia 33% and the Commonwealth Pacific Islands 18% urban. Achievement of SDG 11 will require cities to actively address the key dimensions of sustainable development – the economy, the society and the environment and to be inclusive, and proactive to ensure safety of all citizens. Subthemes includes urbanisation and migration, urban planning, informal settlements, formal and informal urban economy, disaster risk reduction and emergency planning, safety and security in cities, and smart cities and ICT.
Sub-topics:
- Urbanisation and migration
- Urban planning
- Informal settlements
- Formal and informal urban economy
- Disaster risk reduction and emergency planning
- Safety and security in cities
- Smart cities and ICT
- Financing cities
- New Urban Agenda
Featured
Smart Cities: Contradicting Definitions and Unclear Measures
Cities are contemporary metropolises that concentrate human and social activity;
engineered to support and develop the physical environment and the people within it, Smart
cities, we are led to believe, are the immediate future, where smartness is perceived as a
characterisation of advancements or digitalisation, in government, mobility and sustainability.
Therefore it is not surprising that many organisations are marketing their smart solutions and
products, often to a ubiquitous extent and so called smart cities are striving to outperform each
other. But how are smart cities actually being defined and how is performance being measured
in an era where there is increasing access to unprecedented amounts of foreseen data? This
paper identifies the plethora of the smart city definitions and categories evidenced from the
literature and shows that 'Smart cities' lacks a robust coherent definition, with many
contradicting facts within what constitutes a smart vision. Notably, almost every attempt from
organisations, the European Union or cities themselves has failed to define 'smart' in objective
terms that can be accepted globally. Certainly, they all are negotiating with a range of
descriptors and smart ways to improve the city. Even the UK's attempts to develop a clear
definition and set of standards for smart cities (i.e. PAS 180 and PAS 182) appears to suffer
from fundamental differences in how the semantic content of a 'smart' city is defined. This paper
demonstrates the necessity for a single 'Smart Cities' definition that deals with both the physical
and digital using shared parameter value(s) that can be adopted and scaled amongst different
localities and within a range of urban contexts adjusting according to existing city condition(s)
and vision(s) setting the paradigm for further innovative research in this area
Author: Marianna Cavada, Dexter Hunt and Chris Rogers Publisher: World Sustainability Forum 2014 – Conference Proceedings Paper Publication year: 2018
Telling city success stories - roundtable on SDGs and Urban innovation
This roundtable aimed at discussing and sparking new train of thoughts on how to strengthen the role of urban innovation among the city leaders, institutions and urban stakeholders, including private sector organisations. It further explored the strategic pathways for Urban Innovation Community (UIC) to provide new tools, expertise and knowledge on implementing and achieving the SDGs at the local level.
Author: Metropolis Publisher: Metropolis Publication year: 2016
Award-winning solution keeps Auckland ahead of the growth curve
Auckland, New Zealand, has big plans for our city’s transportation infrastructure. We can’t afford to think in half-measures, because Auckland continues to grow at a dramatic pace. By 2020, our city of 1.4 million is expected to expand to 2.2 million, and a lot of those people are going to need ways to get around. We adopted a custom digital solution called Fulcrum that could manage the 200-plus construction projects on our plate from end-to-end. Developed by LeapThought, the 2015 Microsoft CityNext Partner of the Year, Fulcrum uses the capabilities of SharePoint Server to provide cross-departmental tools that help manage properties impacted by projects such as City Rail Link. Although Fulcrum was implemented initially for City Rail Link, the solution can grow and evolve with our agency’s needs. The cost savings and operational efficiencies gained by using Fulcrum on big projects can also extend to smaller capital projects as well. We estimate a savings of $3 million in the first 10 years alone, and the more projects we put into the system, the more savings we’ll realize.
Author: Roger Jones, Microsoft CityNext Publisher: Microsoft CityNext Publication year: 2015
The state of Pacific towns and cities
This publication examines the urbanization process in the Pacific, the condition of urban infrastructure and services across the region, and the urban governance and management systems in place to manage urban development. The report points to ways in which Pacific governments, and other urban stakeholders can improve urban governance, management, and development within the Pacific.
Author: Paul Jones Publisher: Asian Development Bank Publication year: 2010
Financing Local Government
Decentralisation is now taking place in the public administrations of most countries of the world. A critical determinant of the effective performance of local governments is finance – their ability to both mobilise financial resources and to use those resources effectively and efficiently.
This book explores the variety of methods used to ensure that fiscal decentralisation takes place alongside administrative decentralisation. It considers the range of revenue sources available, the design systems of intergovernmental transfers between central and local government, and the kinds of rules and procedures necessary to ensure that local governments use their financial resources appropriately.
The experiences described in this book will help local government managers, and national policymakers charged with local government finance issues, to ensure that they follow good practice in their own programmes of local government reform.
Author: Nick Devas with Munawwar Alam, Simon Delay, Pritha Venkatachalam and Roger Oppong Koranteng Publisher: Commonwealth Secretariat Publication year: 2008