A Paradigm in Progress

Brundtland Report: Our common future

Anna Esbjørn Hess — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 17:19:22 +0200

In 1983, the World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED) convened by the United Nations was created to address growing concern about the consequences of the accelerating deterioration of the human environment and the natural resources. The outcome of the work by the WCED was the report ‘Our Common Future’.

Cradle to Cradle – improving the future

Malene Freudendal-Pedersen — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 13:10:15 +0100

Cradle to Cradle is a holistic economic, industrial and social framework which seeks to create systems that are not just efficient but essentially waste free. It models human industry on nature's processes in which materials are viewed as nutrients circulating in healthy, safe metabolisms.

Vancouver EcoDensity Charter: Green liveable cities

Anna Esbjørn Hess — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 11:34:37 +0100

Vancouver is often praised as one of the most liveable cities in the world with its location between the Canadian Rocky Mountains and the Pacific Ocean. For many years, planners in Vancouver have worked towards a high-density city. Despite this, Vancouver – like most other North American cities – has a large environmental impact.

Cittaslow: Putting quality of life first

June-Catherina Starling — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 09:12:24 +0200

The Cittaslow movement aims to rediscover aspects of urban life by creating space for “The good, slow life” with room for thought, sustainable environment and quality food, music and building culture. The Cittaslow Charter was created and later signed by Carlo Parlo Petrini mayor of Bra, together with the mayores of Greve in Chianti, Positano and Orvieto. Cittaslow is Italian for "slow city" or "slow town".

Aalborg Committments: Getting cities going

June-Catherina Starling — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 17:09:54 +0200

After the Rio Summit in 1992, only a few European countries put Local Agenda 21 on the urban agenda. To encourage change in this direction, the EU Commission was keen to launch a global initiative. Aalborg City and the Commission took the initiative to the first pan-European conference on Sustainable Cities in Aalborg in 1994. At the conference the so-called Aalborg Charter was adopted and approved by the participants.

Rio Declaration: The right to development

June-Catherina Starling — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 17:04:46 +0200

The Rio Declaration states that the only way to achieve long-term economic progress is to link it to environmental protection. Therefore, nations must establish a new and equitable global partnership involving governments, populations and key sectors of societies and build international agreements that protect the integrity of the global environmental and the developmental system. The Rio declaration reaffirms and builds upon the Declaration of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, adopted in Stockholm 1972. World leaders from 179 countries attended.

Melbourne Principles: Respect for people and nature

June-Catherina Starling — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 17:01:44 +0200

The Melbourne Principles for Sustainable Cities are the product of the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) International Workshop on Building Urban Ecosystems held in Melbourne in 2002. The principles aim to assist cities wishing to achieve sustainable development and provide 10 simple statements on how a sustainable city must function, followed by an elaborate description, providing additional information on its meaning and application.

Johannesburg Declaration: A human global society

June-Catherina Starling — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 16:57:25 +0200

The Johannesburg Declaration on Sustainable Development was adopted at the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD), sometimes referred to as Earth Summit 2002. The Johannesburg Declaration builds on the earlier declarations from the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, Stockholm in 1972 (Brundtland Report) and the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 (Rio Declaration). While committing the nations of the world to sustainable development, it also includes substantial mention of multilateralism as the path forward.

Copenhagen Agenda: Working for Sustainable Cities

June-Catherina Starling — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 15:49:49 +0200

The 51st International Federation for Housing and Planning (IFHP) world congress ‘Futures of Cities’ took place in Copenhagen 23 - 26 September 2007. The conference was a collaboration between the Danish foundation Realdania, the Ministry of Environment and the Copenhagen Municipality. Realdania asked the Scandinavian think tank Monday Morning to create the ‘Copenhagen Agenda for Sustainable Cities’ initiative.

Hannover Principles: Design for sustainabilty

June-Catherina Starling — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 14:51:35 +0200

Originally established to inform the international design competitors of Hannover's EXPO 2000 -”Humanity, Nature, and Technology," the Hannover Principles have come to be valued by nearly everyone involved in the built environment: designers, developers, architects, contractors, planners, government officials and even everyday building users.

Ecological Footprint: Humanities killing Nature

June-Catherina Starling — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 13:27:22 +0200

The Ecological Footprint is a management and communications tool that measures how much nature we have, how much we use and who uses what. It represents the area of biologically productive land and water, a population (or individual, city, country or all of humanity) requires to provide the resources it consumes and to absorb its waste, using prevailing technology. The ecological footprint is thus an assessment of how many planet Earths it would take to support humanity if everybody lived a given lifestyle.