Democratic Climate Model, Innovation for climate action at a local level, Belgium

The Model takes a systems approach to pathways towards climate resilience, making explicit the relationship between design, power and social justice, and where inequity and citizen disempowerment weaken governance and climate resilience. The Model aims to foster higher quality of democracies and more participatory approaches by sparking conversations with public sector leaders, civil society and communities on more just, inclusive, community-led approaches. It seeks to shift ‘climate innovation’ away from a tech focus, influence governance and policy, and help cities think about what ‘scaling up’ for more durable, longer term change takes.It is positively framed around four categories of ‘conditions’ we see for climate resilience: (1) diversity of actors, (2) participatory culture, (3) resourcing and (4) subject-matter expertise. The Model is developed through our partnership in EIT Climate-KIC for achieving carbon neutrality, across 10+ EU cities. This showcase session will demonstrate the Democratic Climate Model use to date by city partners, including Vienna and Madrid.

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Urban Arenas for Sustainable and Just Cities, Germany

Urban Arenas for Sustainable and Just Cities (“UrbanA”) seeks to advance the transformation of cities across Europe into inclusive, sustainable, and thriving environments. By launching an Urban Arena – a trans-local, co-creative space designed to generate actionable solutions – we aim to foster deep forms of democracy and citizen empowerment. The Urban Arena brings together policymakers, researchers, engaged citizens and others – collectively known as city-makers – from across Europe, including a group of 25 dedicated UrbanA Fellows and a much broader community of practice, which convenes both virtually and in person.

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Sustainable Cities Program: Strengthening democracy through the municipalization of SDG’s, Brazil

The Sustainable Cities Program assists public managers with urban planning methodologies and the elaboration of structural public policies, which include a systemic and integrated approach to the municipality, making possible to consider issues such as health, education, social assistance, housing, governance, urban mobility, climatic changes, social participation etc. Between 2013 and 2016, 287 Brazilian cities joined the Program, including 22 capitals and the Federal District. The Sustainable Cities Program was one of the responsible organizations for the creation of the SDG National Commission, a structure of governance that involves federal government and civil society representatives to articulate the SDG agenda nation-wide.

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Urban agriculture as a new asset after Covid, France

Reconciling nature and the city: how new allotment gardens can contribute in times of restrictions and confinement. It is obvious that reconciling nature and the city has become urgent in most of the countries that have been forced to limit social interactions to hold back the COVID19 pandemic. New social, economic and environmental fractures have risen sharply, linked to new health, economic and food dependencies. This loss of autonomy is felt even more acutely by the poorest. The situation is worsening everywhere under the impact of climate change. It is the responsibility of governments, local authorities but also organized civil society to prepare an effective local response, based on humanist and democratic values, and the support and participation of everyone in taking charge of their vital needs. This is the vocation of NGOs such as the “Office international du Coin de Terre et des jardins familiaux”, and the FIHUAT, founded by the father of the “Cité-Jardins”. They depend above all on the political will of local elected officials. From Bristol and Copenhagen to Singapore or Seoul, the planning of spaces, their hierarchy, their links and their uses, creating places of exchange, leisure and food production can and must be enlarged.

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