Why Copenhagen's trajectory is not 'negligible'

Having just returned from my third trip to Copenhagen, I'm super impressed with the city. Not only is there an abundance of beautiful people, great coffee and delicious rye bread, but the city really does seem to be paving the way in urban sustainability.

On the flight home I read an interesting in an Easyjet magazine As Green as it Gets which questions some of Denmark's environmental advancements. In summary, author Michael Booth explains that while the city is incredibly green on paper, this is only 'negligible' due to a relatively small population size and the country's utilisation of huge amounts of coal. Booth also points out that while the intention is there to become sustainable, there are ongoing negative impacts and serious shortfalls, including 'greenwashing' and high energy costs.

While the article makes some interesting factual points, it fails to see the bigger picture. Yes, there are shortfalls in Copenhagen's (and Denmark's) progression to urban sustainability and a green economy, and yes there are ingoing negative implications of achieving positive environmental results. But none of this is 'negligible'.

When looking at Copenhagen's policy and planning decisions while taking into account the idea of path dependence, it is possible to appreciate a much broader and more positive picture.

Every positive action that the city of Copenhagen takes today has implications both nationally and internationally. While some reductions in C02 may seem negligible compared with ongoing coal use, these small advancements are all part of a much wider picture.

Every small improvement is setting a higher standard for the entire world. It's leading us on a more sustainable trajectory. Just as companies copy good ideas, cities copy cities. Look at the Copenhagen's ability to plan for bicycles for example - all of a sudden, the world wants to 'Copenhagenize'.

So, while Booth makes some interesting points, it's important to remember that often it's easier to criticise a set of processes than to see the bigger picture in a historical context.

Copenhagen's advancements in environmental technologies, architecture and planning are incredibly impressive. Of course there are shortfalls, but the evolution along current trajectories will only make the city more liveable and sustainable in the long-term. And it's through the evolution of these more sustainable trajectories that we're likely to find alternative solutions to some of the world's greatest problems, including the utilisation of coal energy.

Rather than nitpicking, perhaps cities across the world should be watching Copenhagen much more closely.

Photos by Tom Oliver Payne

I wandered around Singapore. Here are my thoughts on the city.

At my past job at a sustainability charity in London some of my friends who had lived in Singapore explained that it was highly ambitious environmentally, giving numerous examples of green business parks and ambitious building standards. But chatting to a cab driver over the weekend in the city, he had a slightly different perspective.

Explaining the ongoing peripheral urban development and housing crisis, it seemed that the island/nation/city continues to grow rapidly to its own detriment. "What's that word?" he said, "Urban jungle! This nation is turning into one big urban jungle!".

While land intensification has been an ongoing policy for development in the city for many decades, it does continue to slowly sprawl into the periphery to accommodate the rapidly growing population. Comprising only 270 sq km in total, land development issues in Singapore can be seen to epitomise land use issues across the globe (just on the small scale). We want urban 'growth' but how do we stop expanding?

I'd definitely need to spend some more time in the city to have a better perspective on sustainable development in Singapore. It's such an incredibly interesting city that seems to be developing very sensibly, but could it be doing even better? And what lessons can other cities learn from Singapore as an example?

Apart from all of the big picture strategy stuff, I made the following brief observations from my quick day of walking about the city: high density, manicured gardens, not pedestrian friendly, ambitious, colourful, beautiful, amazing food and smells and of course, hot and humid! If the city had a little less cars, a few more bikes and made a bit more effort in place making and public space creation, it'd make all the difference.

I'd love to know other people's thoughts!

All photos Tom Oliver Payne.

How micro-financing can help create sustainable cities

Cities are experiencing rapid growth across the Global South. With this growth however, also comes economic disparity and environmental degradation. Can micro-finance offer a solution to these growing concerns?

One hundred years ago, just 2 out of 10 people lived in urban areas. By 2010, this figure had climbed to 5 out of 10. The number of residents in cities is now growing by about 60 million per year and is expected to increase from 3.4 billion in 2009 to 6.4 billion in 2050. Almost all of the urban population growth in the next 30 years will occur in cities of developing countries – much of which will be across Asia.

It’s estimated that Bangkok for example, will expand another 200 kilometres from its current centre over the next decade.

Rural to urban migration across Asia is occurring on a scale never seen before. Another 1.1 billion people will live in the continent’s cities over the next 20 years. It’s anticipated that in many places, entire cities will merge together to form urban corridors, or what some refer to as ‘megalopolis’ regions. It’s estimated that Bangkok for example, will expand another 200 kilometres from its current centre over the next decade.

With mass urbanisation has also come significant concern with regard to economics disparity and environmental sustainability.

From one perspective, rural to urban migration is thought to be helping to alleviate poverty by pushing more people into the middle class. Additionally, increased urban population density is seen to be ‘green’ because it lowers dependency on private vehicle use and increases resource efficiency. From another perspective however, mass urbanisation also causes a variety of problems across a range of geographic scales: socio-economic inequality, slums, sprawl, deforestation, air pollution, excessive waste and poor water management, to name a few. There is no ‘silver bullet’ for these problems.

While significant research is being conducted into how governments can best manage large-scale rural-urban migration, many troubles resulting from mass urbanisation are largely out of government control. One of which is access to finance. In order to gain a foothold in the city, new migrants require money to look for housing, initiate a business or find a job. With low levels of excess income and no permanent address, this is not as easy as walking down to the local bank branch and asking for a loan.

The inability to obtain capital can place new residents into financial traps. Burdened with huge overheads, people are forced to borrow and operate through the informal sector. While informality is not necessarily a bad thing (providing jobs, housing and networks where they may not normally exist), its unregulated nature can also lead to unethical and unsustainable business practices. In the longer term these practices can exacerbate poverty and environmental degradation.

Lendwithcare.org was launched in late 2010 as a branch of Care International, in association with The Cooperative. Allowing people to make small business loans to entrepreneurs in developing countries, and it gives people the opportunity to climb out of poverty.

Already active in Cambodia, Togo, Benin, The Philippines, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Ecuador, the programme has experienced particularly high growth in Asia where we’re seeing large scale rural to urban migration. To work with this growth Lendwithcare.org has recently also become operational in Pakistan.

The programme works with a number of partner microfinance institutions (MFIs) in the countries in which it operates. If the MFI is happy with an entrepreneur’s idea or business plan, they approve the proposal and provide the initial loan requested. Once the entrepreneur’s loan is fully funded, the money is transferred to the MFI to replace the initial loan already paid out to the entrepreneur.

The great thing about all of this is that microfinance is in and of itself “green”. Put simply, it promotes businesses that can be sustained indefinitely. When those living in poverty are given the opportunity to earn a living in a legitimate and sustainable manner, they have no need to become involved in unethical or unsustainable practices. Additionally, most organisations involved in microfinance such as Lendwithcare.org, hold sustainability as a precondition for awarding loans. Others may encourage greener businesses by offering lower interest rates to borrowers with sustainability-oriented plans.

Already programmes like Lendwithcare.org are having incredible impacts on the environment in places where it’s needed the most.

Here’s an example. Approximately 84% of people living in The Philippines depend on motorised tricycles for transport – 70% of which have polluting two-stroke engines. As you can imagine this is having a devastating impact on the environment as well as on the health of urban residents. While the local council of Mandaluyong City in Manila has recently enacted legislation requiring all tricycles to switch over to cleaner liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), this requires a significant (and often unaffordable expense) for tricycle taxi drivers.

This is where Lendwithcare.org comes in. Committing to local partner Seedfinance is now raising $25,000 in order to provide smaller loans of $500 to 50 motorized tricycle taxi drivers in Mandaluyong City so that they can pay for their vehicles to be switched over to LPG without crippling their livelihoods.

This highly ambitious project has the ability to alleviate poverty at the local scale, while ensuring that important urban sustainability targets can still be met across the region. By assisting ethical entrepreneurship, microfinance ensures that economic and environmental sustainability go hand in hand.

Writing once before on the innovative business models that are helping to create a more just and sustainable world, I’m quickly beginning to realise that the traditional corporate model is diminishing.

As urbanisation rates continue to soar across the globe we’re beginning to appreciate the incredible networks that are unfolding between the public, private and not-for-profit sectors. These networks are producing outcomes that promise to benefit more than just corporate shareholders.

Feature image by Tom Oliver Payne.