Paving the Way to Urban Sustainability. Connecting Values, Policies, Planning, Design and Esg Investment

How to measure the urban sustainability performance based on multiple indicators? How could cities be made more sustainable? What are the roles of policies, planning and design, investment but also values in the sustainability transition?

Stanislav Shmelev

Facilitator

November 7, 2024 | 17:00 - 18:30

SDGs in Action - room A

Environment Europe Foundation

Netherlands

English

Reference:

SDG-A 15

WUF12

SDGs in Action

Summary

Environment Europe Foundation has assessed the sustainability performance of major megacities, global cities, cities and regions in Europe, cities of the Global South, cities of the Middle East and North Africa. One obvious conclusion is that there are many factors affecting sustainability performance, including policies (both macroeconomic and urban), development of smart technology as well as human behaviour and human values.

We will be sharing our innovative research comparing the performance of many cities and providing practical cases study analysis for both the leading and problematic cities with a focus on the Middle East and North Africa. Using a systems perspective we will examine the role of values and human behaviour, the role of urban planning and design, the role of ESG investments and business transformation for sustainability and the way paradigm shift thinking could be mobilized across the world.

Best practices in the MENA region and across the world will be discussed by the leading urbanists including Prof. Dhiru Thadani (ISOCARP), Prof. Apostolos Kyriazis (Abu Dhabi University), expert on human values and sustainable urbanism Dr Irina A Shmeleva (Institute of Design and Urban Studies), ESG investment expert Guy Janssens (BNP Paribas), Founder of B-Corp movement, Marcello Palazzi (Founder, B-Corp), sustainable design and urban planning expert Dr Ali A. Alraouf (Ministry of Municipality and Environment, Qatar), and founder and CEO, sustainability expert and panel convenor Dr Stanislav Edward Shmelev (Environment Europe Foundation).

Objectives

The key objective of the panel is to reflect on the unique mix of policy tools, urban planning and design and social innovation achieving progress on the way to urban sustainability in the context of the global cities, with a particular focus on the cities of the Middle East and North Africa.

The panel will start by examining the progress on various SDGs in cities around the world. Environment Europe Foundation methodology for urban sustainability benchmarking will be presented and discussed.

The panel will consider empirical case studies from several groups of cities, focusing in particular on the Middle East and North Africa and leading experts in their field will examine the policies, actions, planning and design consideration as well as human actions reflecting on the work by Environment Europe Foundation on urban sustainability.

Prof. Dhiru Thadani and Dr Ali A. Alraouf will discuss the implication of the successful sustainable urban planning and design in the MENA, Prof. Apostolos Kyriazis will share problematic case studies from the MENA, ESG Expert Guy Janssens will examine the role of ESG investment in transforming urban centres towards sustainability in the region, co-Founder of B-Corp Marcello Palazzi will talk about the role of sustainable business in transforming the cities. Dr Irina A. Shmeleva will explore the role of human values and their catalytic role in adopting successful sustainability policies. There will be intervention from the youth involved.