Social cities leave no one behind

By Pernille Jægerfelt Mouritsen, Project Manager at Nordic Sustainability and editor of the Cities100 report

In cities all over the world, inclusivity is increasingly integrated into climate action projects. As the impacts of the climate crisis disproportionately affect vulnerable communities, cities are more than ever taking steps to close the gap by ensuring their climate action is socially just and all-encompassing. 

Social cities come in myriad forms. A social city can offer low-carbon public transport, allowing all people the freedom to move, go to work, more examples. It can be a city with ample opportunity for non-motorized transport, enabling citizens to move freely and breather cleaner air. A social city can be one with nature-based solutions to climate adaptation, prioritizing parks, green roofs, or planting trees to combat extreme rain, flooding, or urban heat island all the while increasing liveability. 

Undoubtedly, social cities have their citizens at heart, engaging them in city development, including them in local projects, hearing what they have to say.  But do they hear all of them?

New climate action is inclusive

Climate change is inherently unequal. Caused, in large, by those most privileged but on track to hurt everyone. Adding insult to injury, climate action has not always benefited those hurt the hardest. Rectifying past injustices and ensuring that the future of cities is for the many, cities are now taking great steps to include all citizens and communities in climate plans and projects. 

Just launched, the 2019 Cities100 report features 100 of the most ambitious climate action projects from all over the world. More than ever, the projects showcased in the report have a strong focus on inclusivity, incorporating citizens in the formal economy who previously had to support themselves illegally or providing safe and permanent homes to citizens residing in informal settlements in areas prone to flooding, landslides, and other extreme weather events. Cities are also hearing all voices from all community members, listening to and better understanding the issues and challenges faced in the vulnerable communities. 

In 2016, the city of Accra kickstarted a program to integrate all the city’s informal waste collectors into the city’s official waste management system. Not only has this tremendously increased the overall collection of waste, but it has also closed the illegal open-burning waste sites, as well as ensure a fairer, more inclusive, more dignified form of employment. 

Social inclusion of waste collectors reaps heaps of benefits in Accra

Meanwhile, in the USA, after conducting an extensive stakeholder engagement process with both the local communities and NGOs, in April 2019, Los Angeles launched the all-encompassing Watts Rising Transformative Climate Communities project to transform one of the city’s most disadvantaged communities. A crucial component of this comprehensive community-driven program is the incorporation of the local residents in the Local Hire program, as well as displacement avoidance measures. The job opportunities in the program come from different sectors, such as clean energy projects, urban greening efforts, the creation of more affordable housing, and the electrified public transportation system.

Local neighbourhood fights disparities and pollution in Los Angeles

New Orleans is another US city that is going to considerable lengths to be more inclusive of its most vulnerable communities - largely composed of residents of color, low-income residents, and immigrant communities - through its Climate Action Equity Project set up in 2017. In response to the growing threat of climate change, this particularly exposed coastal city is focusing on addressing social inequity as it starts to implement its climate action strategy. By introducing community solar, for example, New Orleans expects a reduction in these communities’ electricity bills, thereby increasing both their economic security and their resilience. 

New Orleans: Combining equity with climate action for a resilient, inclusive city

Similarly, further up the East Coast, Washington D.C. set up a 13-member Equity Advisory Group in 2018, where a local, demographically representative group of the District’s more vulnerable communities met monthly to develop equitable climate action recommendations. The core recommendations inform the District on how to most effectively implement its climate action plans so as to achieve economic, social, and environmental justice for these communities.

Washington D.C.: Equity advisors help align climate plans with community needs

In the most populous city of the Philippines, Quezon City has successfully relocated over 5,600 families previously living in informal settlements over the last six years. This socialized housing program has led to more affordable, secure, and sustainable settlements for these communities where residents now have access to urban gardens, open parks, and community facilities.

Quezon City: Resilient communities to replace vulnerable, informal settlements

The above is merely a handful of examples of cities becoming more inclusive; many more can be found in the Cities100 report. Filled to the brim with concrete examples of cities acting for the climate and its citizens, it’s safe to say that, above all, social cities include all strata of society and leave no one behind. 

The Cities100 report is a collaboration between Nordic Sustainability and C40 Cities, funded by Realdania. Read or download the full report here and dive into the interactive data visualization here.  It features a full chapter of nine different ways in which cities are working with inclusive climate action.

Pernille is the editor of the Cities 100 2019 report and Project Manager at Nordic Sustainability. When not at work, Pernille writes at www.sustainimalism.com, where she is documenting a year of not buying anything to combat her own consumption based emissions.

Reach out to Pernille here.