Project description
More than half of the planet’s inhabitants live in urban areas, with three million people moving into cities every week. Urbanization is especially strong in developing countries. For instance, it is estimated that around 700 million Indians will live in urban areas by 2050. The scale of urbanization is unprecedented in human history.
Not all cities face the same sustainability challenges but regardless of the situation, cities either need to develop new infrastructure or upgrade existing outdated infrastructure.
The WBCSD's Urban Infrastructure Initiative (UII) brings together a diverse group of companies: ACCIONA, AECOM, AGC, CEMEX, EDF, GDF SUEZ, Honda, Nissan, Philips, Siemens, TNT, Toyota and UTC. The UII Co-chairs are CEMEX, GDF SUEZ, Schneider Electric and Siemens; WBCSD is also actively involved as Co-chair. These companies from sectors including energy, buildings, materials, transport, engineering, water, equipment, and support services are collaborating to help urban authorities develop realistic, practical and cost-effective sustainability action plans. The project draws on the expertise of individual companies who already work with urban planners and engineers to provide services and solutions to sustainability challenges in cities.
The business case
Cities are the growth engines of national economies and typically consume 75% of a country’s energy and resources. In developing countries, the huge migration to cities is putting increasing pressure on urban area infrastructure.
Each city faces different challenges. Tailor-made solutions are required, as challenges and opportunities vary from country to country and city to city. Some cities can capitalize on expanding populations. Others need to deal with aging and declining numbers. City governments must therefore find systemic solutions to address the interlinked social and environmental challenges and create the right framework conditions to make them competitive in order to attract investments.
For cities, the case for action is compelling: A sustainable city is more competitive and offers its citizens better lives. It uses resources more efficiently, thrives economically, and creates an inclusive community.
For companies, the case for action is also compelling: the urban market offers companies the opportunity to provide systems solutions, products and services in support of sustainable development in cities (buildings, energy, infrastructure, waste collection and recycling, etc.)
Work program activities
Working with authorities in key cities, the UII will help create action plans and translate their defined issues into landscape solutions for sustainable urban development.
The initiative is currently in the process of identifying the cities which will participate in the UII project. Cities in Europe, India, USA and Latin America have already been defined. In addition, cities in East Asia, China, and Japan will be approached.
The work will be developed through a series of dialogue sessions with cities in order to build a common understanding of their specific needs and priorities. Following each dialogue, an ‘issue landscape’ will be developed for the city concerned.
An interdisciplinary team of UII members will be set up, a transformation team, and sent to work with the City. The aim is to produce a ‘transformation report’ outlining an integrated action plan for the city. It will be a public report given to the city, in order to support its efforts toward the implementation of a sustainable urban infrastructure.