Let’s make 2021 the year of urban sustainability
New Year’s Letter by Morten Nielsen, IFHP CEO.
January 2021
As we have closed 2020 on the happy note of COVID-19 vaccines being successfully developed and distributed, IFHP looks forward to make 2021 the year of sustainable, livable and inclusive cities. Let's join efforts and benefit from the growing IFHP community with more individuals, cities, companies and urban organisations joining to share insights and find new inspiration, new tools, and new partners.
IFHP depends on your continued commitment to our shared passion and purpose of sustainable and inclusive cities. Engagement opportunities in 2021 will be plenty and starting already with the Design Influences webinar on January 21st . Participation is free, but we hope that you will support the IFHP mission and take the opportunity to sign-up or renew your IFHP membership on our website starting at EUR 30.
There is a clear need to combine the social, green and economic agenda of sustainable urban development and consequently IFHP's 2021 focus areas covers all three dimensions:
Social Cities – IFHP offers a three-step approach to a) measure social sustainability in cities in partnership with the Social Progress Index and using a set of indicators developed in collaboration with the London School of Economics and other key stakeholders, b) co-create solutions for inclusive cities in multi-stakeholder workshops, and c) share learnings and best-practices in regards to the creation of inclusive and livable cities.
Affordable Housing – An IFHP project team based in Copenhagen, Denmark, is currently mapping and assessing policy tools that are available to municipalities and other stakeholders when creating and implementing affordable housing strategies. The program is expected to be expanded to more geographies during 2021, pending funding.
Healthy by Design – The COVID-19 pandemic has presented housing & planning professionals with new challenges. The IFHP Secretariat will continue to initiate and facilitate the debate and share new insights in this area, as we did last year.
Circular Economy – IFHP is a project partner in the Horizon2020 programme, CIRCUiT. The programme is uniting four European cities – Copenhagen, Hamburg, Helsinki’s region of Vantaa and Greater London – in their ambition to undertake a full circular and regenerative transition that will allow them to become fully smart, eco-friendly, regenerative, and circular economies.
The Design Declaration – With IFHP in the Steering Committee, 22 international organisations representing professional urban planners, architects, landscape architects and designers from over 90 countries occurred on 23–24 October 2017 in Montréal (Canada) to create a Design Declarationthat affirms the fundamental role of design in creating and shaping the world now and in the future.
The IFHP activities for members and the wider global network will take off with the Design Influences webinar on January 21st. You are all heartily invited to register and participate.
Many more activities are being planned for 2021. We expect most of them to be held online building on the positive experience from last year of enabling so many people all over the globe to participate real time at low cost. Dates and agenda will be announced in due time.
Stay tuned on updates of what you can engage in and how to share your insights. Welcome to 2021!