4 | 2008 | AUTUMN |

Cities4 | 2008 | AUTUMN |

Cities

ABANDONO DE LA DISTOPÍA • ©©ALEXIS URUSOFF RAMOS

contentsnº4 cities autumn 2008

Credits

Editor: Heloise Buckland

Art and design: alexis @ barcelonya

Editing and proofreading: MarianoCarrizo, Olga Llobet, Marta Moreno andSarah Clark de Garcés

Editorial committee: Teresa Franquesa,Antoni Grau, Oriol Lladó, Josep-LluísMoner, Cristina Monge, Paula Pérez,Sonia Pérez, Inma Pruna, MontseSantolino and Marc Vilanova

Printing: El Tinter (ISO certification9001, 14001 and EMAS)

Printed on recycled paper. October 2008

Legal deposit B-23656-07 ISSN 1887-7230

www.rce-barcelona.netes@rce-barcelona.net+34 93 405 43 73

If you wish to participate in Education and Sustainability, propose contents, subscribe or collaborate in the distribution, please contact us at es@rce-barcelona.net

“It’s all the grownups’ fault” 4Francesco Tonucci, founder of the City of Children project, explains theneed to work towards a new philosophy of urban planning, looking at thecity from a child´s perspective.

What did the lizards and dragons do? 8Jordi Sargatal y Vicens, director of Fundació Territori i Paisatge, Obra Socialde Caixa Catalunya, invites schools to learn from urban biodiversity tocreate more attractive and vibrant cities.

Sustainable urban development 13Rafael Tuts, Lars Reutersward and Helen Andreasson from UN-Habitatreveal significant gaps between research and education agendas and thereal challenges of urbanizing poverty.

A harsh lesson to be learnt 21Ana Lucia de Oliveira, architect and planner, analyses the effects of theYacyretá mega-dam on cities in Paraguay and Argentina and reflects on theconsequences of today´s education system.

A city that listens, that understands, that educates 32Àlvar Miró, educationalist and member of Sinèrgies cooperative, outlineskey concepts and practical actions to help create more sustainable cities.

Competing for number 1 eco-city? 37Oriol Lladó, environmental journalist, proposes rigour and complexity ineducation, and to look beyond the hype of eco-labelled cities.

In brief, educational initiatives for our urban future

Educational resources 40Interview with Antanas Mockus 44ex-mayor of Bogotá, director of the National University of Colombia andpresident of the Visionarios por Colombia movement.

2050 Visions “What will your city be like in 2050?” 46Calendar of urban development and sustainability 49We recommend books and documentaries on cities 50Ecological footprint of this magazine 51

Education and Sustainability This magazine is published under a Creative Commons li-cence, Attribution Non-commercial Share Alike. You may copy and redistribute the con-tent and generate new material derived from it, as long as you credit the magazine, licensederived material under the same terms and do not use it for commercial purposes. Thephotographs with this licence are indicated with the ©© symbol; the remaining photo-

graphs do not have permission from their authors to be reproduced or distributed. + info in www.creativecommons.org

The graphic work on the frontcover “Abandono de ladistopía” (abandoning thedystopia) is a composition madefrom two photos:

“Salto” (jump) was taken in BahiaRio Paraguaçu (Brazil), by Edson, aphotographer and idealist, who hastravelled over 10 thousandkilometres on a second-hand bike. Imet him at a permaculture fair inPortugal.

The second, the skyline of afuturistic city, is from a classicscience fiction film (“Metropolis”,Fritz Lang, 1927); the scene isdominated by the New Tower ofBabel, symbol of the panopticpower of capitalism which finallysuccumbs to the rebel workers.

alexis urusoff ramos

“SALTO” © BY EDSON PERDIGUERO LARA

September 23rd was the day we usedup all the resources that nature willgenerate for this year. Around thesame time, the media proclaimed acrisis in the global economy. Are thetwo headlines connected? There aremany complex parallels but what iscertain is that with 50% of the world’spopulation living in cities, we couldsay that the future is urban.

On the one hand, our cities have thehighest concentration ofconsumption, buildings, traffic,crime, pollution and wasteproduction per square metre, but onthe other hand, they are characterisedby a level of density and intensity thatengenders shared knowledge, cultureand creativity.

“I imagine my city with flyingvehicles, portable parks, and waterwill be supplied by robots. I will be anastronaut and I’ll fly to the moon andwork in tourism in outer space”, JuanManuel, 8 years old, Bogotá.

Firstly, who better than children todesign the drastic changes that haveto be made in the city? If the city is agood place to be through the eyes of achild (they can play in the street, meetfriends, move around freely, climbtrees and, why not, daydream and seedragons in the streets...), it will be agood place for us all. Who wouldn’twant safe streets, efficient andaccessible public transport, greenareas and open spaces? Givingchildren a voice and a vote in cityplanning is a good step forward. Inthis issue of the magazine we focus onother ways that young people cantransform their cities; take eco-safaris,green guerrilla teams and urbanbiodiversity mappers, as just someexamples.

If we also look at the poorest cities inthe world, where the urbanizationprocess is happening at a faster paceand in many cases is out of control,can we sit back and relax, believingthat we have the educationalresources needed to deal with theseurban realities? Do we know enoughabout sustainable urbandevelopment, the right to housing,risk management, community self-sufficiency, urban governance andconnections between the rural

economy and the city? Why notprioritise these matters in theeducation of the entrepreneurs,engineers and politicians of thefuture?

Looking to the future, and on a morepositive note, what do Frieberg(Germany), Dongtan (China) andPortland (Oregon, USA) have incommon? They all appear in differentlists of the world’s “top eco-cities”, butthere are so many ways of measuringsustainability and so much “talk”, thatwe now need to be a little more waryof the claims to be the mostsustainable city, and know how towean out the genuine “eco” from thefuture “city”.

At the time of publishing this issue,over 12,000 world leaders and expertsare meeting in China at the fourthsession of the World Urban Forum todiscuss urbanization and its impact.Will they talk about the role ofeducation? Let’s hope so! Meanwhile,we present an array of ideas andresources for teachers and educatorsin the frontline of our urban future.

Heloise Buckland

PHOTOGRAM OF “METROPOLIS”, FRITZ LANG

Back tothe woods?

The Editorial Committee does not assume responsibility for the opinions expressed by the authors in this magazine.

REFLECTIONSau

tum

n20

08 ·

cities

4

ket was also brought to life here, a symbol of ex-change and interaction. The historical city didnot have areas separated by different socialclasses. Its streets were attractive as they weremade up of the fine mansions of the nobles,built by great architects, and the humble hous-es of the artisans. Diversity enriched the cityand made it pleasing to the eye. This is the sameas ecosystems: an ecosystem will be healthyand full of life if it is complex andjoined-up, if each of its parts inter-acts with others.For some decades since theSecond World War, cities havemanaged to sell their owncharacter down the riverby adopting a model ofseparation and speciali-

sation. The histori-cal city centres have

become depopulated,suburbs have emerged,

neighbourhoods have been creat-ed for rich and poor, dormitory towns,

cultural areas, working areas... In this mod-ern city, thought out for adult male workers,the car has become king. Cars have caused

Francesco TonucciDirector of the

International Project ofthe Italian NationalResearch Council

Institute of CognitiveSciences andTechnologies

In the light of the seriousproblems of environmentalsustainability and socialdegradation, ecologists,sociologists, psychologists anddoctors are calling for urgentchanges to make our citieshabitable again. When workingwith children, it is surprising todiscover that the city that theyask for and need is very similar tothe city that experts on thesubject describe.

The city of childrenis a sustainable city

“It’s all the grownups’

fault”

Furthermore, the city that they proposestrongly resembles ancient cities.When asked how he imagined the cityof the future, the acclaimed Italian ar-

chitect Renzo Piano replied: “As similar as pos-sible to that of the past”. It isn’t about being ro-mantic or nostalgic, but rather it’s about re-claiming the role of public places in the city,their function as a place for meeting and ex-change, a place to express diversity that hasgradually been lost up to the present day. TheRenaissance city was dreamt up as an alterna-tive to the medieval model of the castle, basedon the principle of separation: the powerfuland wealthy feudal lords lived within the castlewalls, and outside the walls was the village ofthe serfs and the peasants at the service of thepowerful. The city broke with this way of think-ing and was built around a main square, a sym-bol of public space. The governmental palaceand cathedral were in this square, and the mar-

REFLECTIONSEducatio

n an

d S

ustain

ability

5

the city to lose its public spaces, clean air, si-lence, beauty...Most citizens feel left out in this city adaptedto suit working adult citizens. In fact, take alook at the streets of a city, whether large orsmall, and you will be hard pushed to see eld-erly people, children roaming freely or disabledpeople getting about in wheelchairs. Thesegroups of people have been excluded from

public spaces and separate, specialised spaceshave been created for them, with services forthe elderly, disabled or children (infant schools,nurseries and play centres).

The right to playChildren are the first to lose out in this city asthey cannot exercise their most importantright, recognised in article 31 of the 1989

DRAWING FR

OM TH

E URQUIA-MARU CRAFT W

ORKSHOP (VENEZUELA) • FE

LIPE GARCIA

REFLECTIONSau

tum

n20

08 ·

cities

6

Convention on the Rights of the Child: theright to play. To be able to play properly, achild needs to be able to go out alone with hisfriends and experience adventure, discovery,surprise, obstacles, risk. He has to savour thesweet taste of victory and the humiliation ofdefeat. He needs to get to know new peo-ple, unknown places, butmost importantly, get toknow himself. All of thiswould be possible if thereweren’t adults accompany-ing them, watching overthem. This option has un-fortunately become tremendouslydifficult in the modern world. A child in adeveloped country will probably spend all ofhis time between school, homework, after-school classes (languages, sport, music,dance, etc.) and the television or computer,not even having the possibility of living ex-periences by himself or with his friends. If wecontinue along this path, tests, difficultiesand risk will disappear from the lives of ourchildren. When asked the question “What isplay for a child?” the well-known psychoan-alyst Françoise Dolto replied: “I would saythat it is enjoying fulfilling a desire by over-coming risks”.This situation leads to serious developmentalconsequences with dramatic effects that canoften be seen during adolescence. Becausethey have never been able to experience therisks that correspond to three, five or eightyear-olds, the desire for risk, challenges anddanger builds up. This explodes the first timethe thirteen or fourteen year-old girl or boy getshold of the keys to a house or a motorbike.And we are shocked and surprised by the manyyoung victims on the roads, by the disconcer-ting number of cases of school bullying, by theincreasingly young age that young people startsmoking, drinking or taking drugs, and by in-comprehensible teenage suicides.

The city of children We set up the City of Children project seven-teen years ago in the light of this situation ofunease, neglect and danger. The project aimsto get those who govern cities to ask the chil-dren for help. We encourage them to adoptthis as a new parameter (instead of the mod-el of the adult, male worker) to evaluate andchange the city based on the conviction thata city adapted to children is a better cityfor everybody.(1 )

The idea is to give children the right to speak,ask them for advice, listen to them and taketheir opinions into account. It also consists ofreturning autonomy to children, allowingthem to fully exercise their citizenship which gives them the right to freely roam the

city’s public space. If this were to happen, chil-dren would be able to live essential experi-ences once again, would become more inde-pendent and would need fewer toys, less TVand fewer afterschool classes. For less mon-ey, children would have more fun andwould grow up to be healthier.(2)

If children can again experience autono-my in the city, walk to school with their

friends and not with their par-ents, play in their neighbour-hood, going to places that bestadapt to the games that they

choose and not just parks created es-pecially for them, we will haveachieved an important change.The city will become safer. We,the adults, deny our childrenfreedom because the city is dan-

gerous, but in fact the city is dangerous be-cause it has turned its back on children. Thepresence of children on the streets and insquares obliges residents to look out for them,to be responsible and supportive. The Saferoutes to school programme was run in differ-ent municipal areas of Buenos Aires, a subur-ban area with a high level of environmentaldegradation and hazards, with a subsequentreduction of over 50% criminal activity.(3)

What do the children suggest?After more than fifteen years experience withchildren’s councils and after gathering hun-dreds of proposals from youngsters, we canconfirm that Italian, Spanish and Argentineanchildren share certain needs and concerns. Wewill now give three of the most common re-quests by way of example.

Public spacesChildren do not want specially-designedspaces that always remain the same andwhere they need to go accompanied by theirparents. They want to use real spaces in thecity alongside other people, adults, the elder-ly, and thereby draw out their own spaces andexperiences. A space is public if and when itis alive and visited. It is public if it correspondsto the diverse interests of diverse groups andgenerations of people. It is public if it can bewalked or run across, if it is sufficiently safe,so that children, elderly or disabled peoplefeel like they are at home in their own city. Itis public if it is attractive. One child said “Justgoing to school is lovely, but the streets shouldalso be lovely”.

Fewer carsChildren come into great conflict with cars.These take up their play spaces and make thestreet more dangerous, justifying prohibitingthem from going out alone. One child in an

Italian city made a suggestion to the mayor:“There are loads of car parks in this city, whydon’t we share them? Half the space for carsand half for the children”. The suggestion wasmet with a condescending smile but the may-or had misjudged. The proposal was wise, andwould have improved the city for everybody,not just the children.

The right to playChildren ask to be able to play, and to play forthe right amount of time and every day. Wedo not understand why they have to go toschool for so many hours (article 28 of theConvention), then they have homework todo, leaving little time for playing. If a city set itself the goal of guaranteeing that all chil-dren could play, we would need to remove allthe prohibitions that currently exist in pub-lic places and community spaces (these areunlawful after the Convention). We wouldhave to close play areas and allow them toplay in public places (pavements, streets,squares, gardens). We should empower chil-dren’s self-sufficiency. A girl from Suria, atown in the province of Barcelona, said “Playareas are always flat and we can’t hide” and one boy from Buenos Aires pointed outthat “For a square to be good for children itshouldn’t have too much security”.In conclusion, a girl from Rosario, Argentina,said: “It’s all the adults’ fault. We should setlimits on grownups”. A terrible indictment,but if we observe the environmental degra-dation of our cities, the growing percentageof serious illnesses and the paucity of expe-riences lived by our treasured children, canwe really consider this to be misleading or anover-reaction?

References(1)The project was established in Fanno, Italyand since 2006 it has been coordinated bythe Italian National Research Council Ins-titute of Cognitive Sciences and Technolo-gies. More than 100 Italian and internatio-nal cities have signed up for the project,making up the “cities of children” network,with Rome as the main city. www.lacittadeibambini.org

(2)Children in our cities are being exposed tothe serious risk of childhood obesity,mainly caused by a sedentary life at home,in the car and in front of the television.Paediatricians are also in agreement withthe project, insofar as it promotes auto-nomy in children so that they can go toschool on their own or play with theirfriends.

(3) According to that stated by the security di-rector of the City of Buenos Aires in a pu-blic conference in July 2005.

REFLECTIONSEducatio

n an

d S

ustain

ability

7

BARRIO • ©

FELIP

E GARCIA

REFLECTIONSau

tum

n20

08 ·

cities

8

Just like a hairstyle, the landscape ismodelled by the human species. Initial-ly, some 500,000 years ago, when the hu-man population started to settle in Cat-

alonia, the country’s landscape was basicallynatural, the fruit of the evolution of vegeta-tion and fauna which followed the strict andevolved natural laws of ecosystems withouthuman intervention; this is only seen thesedays in the most hidden corners of the plan-et. Humans were still not able to transformthings, something that they soon learnt howto do with the help of fire, but they were stillable to “style” the land with crops and pas-ture, with tracks and villages, and later onwith large infrastructures and cities.Ecosystems continued to function, obviously,following their natural rhythms, but human

intervention has always been deep and far-reaching on a small scale and now also on aglobal scale. Man has exterminated speciesor has introduced new ones, has domestica-ted some, has changed entire habitats, andalthough in the past all of this took placewilly-nilly, slowly, over the last century or soit has happened so quickly that many specieshave not been able to adapt. They have notbeen able to resist the pressure, and have di-sappeared in specific areas or have been ex-tinguished from the planet forever.Of all landscapes, both natural and humani-zed, living landscapes stand out. These lands-capes move thanks to the animals that live inthem. They elicit human emotion and there-fore more easily seduce us in environmentalterms. The African savannah, for example, is

Lessons in urban biodiversity

The landscape is the appearance that we give to the land. If we wereto make a comparison, imagining that the land corresponds to ourhead, then the landscape would be each person’s hairstyle. Therewould be very natural heads of hair, which would be the untouchedwoods; very elaborate hairstyles, which would be the well-tendedcrops; bald heads like the rocky or eroded areas... we could go on

comparing hairstyles and landscapes.

Jordi Sargatal y VicensDirector of Fundació

Territori i Paisatge, ObraSocial de Caixa Catalunya

What did the lizards

and dragons

REFLECTIONS

aesthetically beautiful, but it would not havethe same power of attraction and would notbe quite so stunning if it were not for thethousands of large mammals that bring it tolife, that make it move, that bear witness toits richness. It is clear that fauna brings lands-cape to life.

Urban biodiversityCatalonia has managed to hang onto adequa-te examples of biodiversity in natural and ru-ral environments, but biodiversity also has astrong presence in urban environments,otherwise known as urban biodiversity. In fact, firstly rural environments and thenurban environments have progressively ta-ken over spaces in natural environments withvarying fortune. There are very “green” urbanareas and others that are totally overcrowdedwhere it is difficult for any native animal orplant species to survive or be reintroduced.The native fauna and flora have returned, orperhaps had never left, to urban areas, villa-ges or cities where people have their main

home, or urba-nized areas with se-cond homes, where there are good connections with natural systems andsufficient suitable habitats (the buildingsthemselves, tree-lined streets, parks, small“natural” areas, etc.).What did the lizards and dragons do (bothspecies with a low dispersion capacity)? Didthey cling on in tiny crevices or reoccupy newartificial stone habitats?Birds like the house martin must have gra-dually returned when they saw that the wallsof the villages and towns looked similar to theirnatural rocky habitat, where they could maketheir nests in an even safer place due to the re-duced presence of natural enemies. But thehuman factor soon rears its head: in some pla-

do?

Educatio

n an

d S

ustain

ability

9

YOUNG CHAMELEON FU

RCIFE

R PA

RDALIS

- NOSY BE (7 M

ONTHS) ©

ERIC ISSELÉE

REFLECTIONSau

tum

n20

08 ·

cities

10

ces these species, and others, have been well-received and are respected, and in others, bycontrast, the house martin’s nests are destro-yed and all kinds of birds are shot.I always say that if shops were to sell a self-run-ning apparatus that would eat 10 g of flies andmosquitoes in thearea where it is pla-ced, everyone wouldrush out to buy one.This is what thehouse martins do,and it is low-cost: allyou have to do is letthem breed underthe eaves or bal cony.Better still, let’s talkabout excrement. Itis only found at cer-tain times (duri ngthe breeding seasonfrom May to July)and in certain places(un der the nest). Itcan be used as anexcep tional fertili-ser. Why go out andbuy plant fertiliserfrom a shop whenthe birds will bring itstraight home, andfor free!

The House MartinProject

In order to breed,house martins needsuitable places tobuild their nests,mud to build themand insects to eat. Ifwe stop and think about it, all of this relatesto good indicators of environmental health.Houses where house martins can nest safelyare more stable and healthier; if there is mudnearby it means there are natural or natura-lised areas, and if there are insects to eat itmeans that there are good conditions for lifein general in the area. Although insects areoften a nuisance, places where they have di-sappeared entirely can normally be put downto non-existent or scarce environmental he-alth conditions.The presence of house martins and the num-ber of nesting pairs should be a further indi-cator that helps us find out a site’s level of ha-bitability and environmental quality. As wellas finding out the number of heavens knowshow many things per capita, it would also begood to find out how many house martin pairswe have per inhabitant in our villages andtowns. This would be a true indicator of two

things: the health of the environment and ofhumanity, of respect for house martins andtheir nests.With all of this in mind, the Fundació Territo-ri i Paisatge has set up the House Martin Pro-ject(1) with the collaboration of the Catalan

Institute of Orni-thology. The pro-ject involves takinga yearly census ofthe number of nes-ting pairs in all ofthe villages, townsand cities in Cata-lonia. This task canbe done by any-body, and above allby schoolchildren.This is also a goodway for them to le-arn the names andlocation of streets,learn about thebirds, do statistics,work on languageskills, and some-thing that is evenmore important,they can helpchange their villa-ge’s environmentalconditions and le-vel of humanity.They can also learnto manage andlead change. Hou-se martins are en-couraged to returnto artificial nests ifthere are no nestsin the village, and

protection campaigns can prevent peoplefrom destroying the nests.

Our other neighboursThe Fundació Territori i Paisatge’s Departmentof Environmental Education, with the supportof the Generalitat’s Department of Educationand the collaboration of Victòria Comunica-ció and Thalassia Estudis Ambientals, is wor-king on learning support material entitled “ElsAltres Veïns”.You can be sure that near many schools andcolleges there are crops, streams, copses, thesea or even the playground or building itselfwhere our other neighbours can be studied.These are wonderful examples of biodiversityin the shape of colonies of lizards and dragons,frogs in a small pool, house martin and tit-mouse nests, moles and hedgehogs. It is aboutstudying and learning to love all the flora andfauna that surround us. They have resisted,

PROJECTE OREN

ETES POSTER

, CAIXA CATALU

NYA

REFLECTIONSEducatio

n an

d S

ustain

ability

11

and we should help them live amongst us asgood neighbours.

Corners of landscape, chunks ofbiodiversity

Initially, the main goal of Territori i Paisatgewas to acquire land to manage. Over these firstten years of the foundation 24 spaces have

been bought in Catalonia, totalling some 8,000ha. “Land custody” agreements have also beensigned for a total of 140,000 ha. All in all thisrepresents 4.5% of Catalonia. We are very ple-ased with what has been achieved, but thereis still a lot of work ahead, and we need to in-volve the whole society.Land custody is a concept that should be of fi-nancial benefit to all owners or managers ofland in Catalonia who follow good agricultu-ral, livestock or forest practices on their esta-tes. This means that if an individual or familylooks after, for example, 100 hectares of thecountry with its corresponding landscape andbiodiversity, and looks after it well, society willcompensate them with tax allowances.If we are able to establish the concept of cus-tody we will have a better managed country, gi-ven that we offer tools and incentives to ow-

ners and managers, but even so there are manysmall abandoned private properties, forgottenscraps of public property between roads androundabouts. In short, there are many cornersof landscape that we could maintain and pro-mote as small chunks of biodiversity. This jobcould be done by schools and colleges, scoutgroups, excursion clubs, environmental NGOs

and neighbourhood associations (why not takeover custody of parks and green areas?).All of this means that with maximum involve-ment, and with the work done by people de-dicated to education (an essential piece of thepuzzle), we hope and wish that we can have amore beautiful and above all more vitalcountry to live in.

Jordi Sargatal has been director of Territori iPaisatge since its founding in 1998. He was di-rector of the Parc Natural dels Aiguamolls del’Empordà from its creation in 1984 until 1998,and was the driving force behind the project.He has published books and articles on birdsand wildlife in general, and has been one ofthe three editors of the first seven volumes ofthe Handbook of the Birds of the World.(1)www.orenetes.cat

PALOMAS EN LA CIUDAD • ©© EDUARD DURANY

autu

mn 2

008

· citie

s

12

I NBR IEF

México DF, Mexico� (+52) 55 30 96 57 42/45

www.ctsmexico.org

Mexico City is one of the most pop-ulated metropolises on the planetwhere around 1,200 people die intraffic accidents year upon year. TheMexican Centre for SustainableTransport (Centro de Transporte Sus-tentable de México or CTS) explainsthat the Travelling Laboratory forRoad Education (Laboratorio de Ed-ucación Vial Itinerante or LEVI)emerged as an initiative that uses ed-ucation to respond to a public healthproblem and collaborate in trainingcitizens. Alongside the Centro Mexicano deDerecho Ambiental and Movilidad yDesarrollo México, and through thesupport provided by the World Bank,the CTS has headed up the imple-mentation of the LEVI in primaryschools in marginalised areas ofMexico City. The location of theseschools near the arterial road wherecars travel at high speeds and thepedestrian infrastructure is inade-

quate makes them particularly vul-nerable.LEVI is being applied in schoolsthrough the use of courses andtalks, drawing and dancing compe-titions and football matches. Partic-ularly popular are the live showsand visits from “superheroes” suchas “Captain Vial”.

The project is not just about educat-ing children and their parents on allaspects of road safety. It is also aboutfostering participation and the de-velopment of commu nity initiativesthat come out of the neighbour-hoods, such as the location of trafficlights, signs, litter bins and pedestri-an crossings.

“MODELS OF SUSTAINABLE/NON-SUSTAINABLE CITIES” • ©© SAN MARC DE SARRIA INFANT SCHOOL

“Vilasana” or “Marina del Brut”?

Schools taking part in Barcelona City Hall’s Agenda 21schools’ programme have for some time now been ma-king their voices heard with ideas that help reflect on dif-ferent models for cities, offering suggestions that pupilscan take with them from school to build a more sustai-nable city.This time, the boys and girls of the Sant Marc de Sarrià in-fant school have created a model to reflect on the diffe-rent development models for cities by inventing and buil-ding two imaginary cities in their playground: Vilasanaand Marina del Brut (roughly translated as “Healthytown”and “Dirtyport”).The inhabitants of Vilasana love and care for their land,share their natural resources, breathe clean air and useenergy from renewable sources. They respect other li-

ving beings, reduce, reuse and recycle any waste gene-rated, do exercise, eat a healthy diet, are raised to havevalues and help one another to build the world that theyall want to live in.

Marina del Brut, on the other hand, is a polluted and po-lluting city. Its inhabitants are not at all concerned abouthow the energy they use is produced. They waste waterand throw all their rubbish away without separating andrecycling. They travel around all day but never use pu-blic transport, eat transgenic foods, do very little sportand make life very hard for each other.

Which city would you prefer to live in?

� (+34) 93 256 2599 · www.bcn.es/agenda21/a21escola

Travelling laboratory for mobility education

MOBILE

ENVIRONMENTAL U

NIT (VENEZUELA) • ©

FELIP

E GARCIA

REFLECTIONSEducatio

n an

d S

ustain

ability

13

Half of humanity now lives in cities,and around one billion urban resi-dents live in slums. The urbaniza-tion of poverty is there fore one of

the most daunting challenges of the 21st cen-tury. Cities offer opportunities, but most urbandevelopment is largely toxic, se gregated and

inefficient. Reversing this trend requires insti-tutions that support sound go ver nance andregulatory regimes, and deliver public infra-structure and social services.If cities are to come to terms with rapid levelsof urbanization, they require leaders, man-agers and staff capable of adopting innova-

Addressing the urbanization of poverty

Reversing unsustainable urban development patterns will require majorchanges in education. Studies in four sub-regions reveal significantgaps between the current research agendas, higher education curriculaand sustainable urban development challenges. UN-HABITAT isintensifying its efforts in promoting education for sustainabledevelopment; improving access to quality basic education, reorientingexisting education programmes, developing public understanding andawareness, and providing capacity building and training.

Rafael Tuts, LarsReutersward andHelen AndreassonUN-Habitatwww.unhabitat.org

BOY AND THE GREEN WALL, MATHURA, INDIA • © UDIT KULSHRESTHA

Addressing the urbanization of poverty

development

sustainableurban

development

sustainableurban

REFLECTIONS

tive and robust approaches to planning, de-veloping, managing and financing growth forall citizens. The United Nations Human Settlements Pro-gramme, UN-HABITAT, is mandated by theUN General Assembly to promote socially andenvironmentally sustainable towns and citieswith the goal of providing adequate housingfor all. To fulfill this mandate, pro-active ap-proaches should be promoted, to include astrong focus on the quality and range of rele-vant formal educational opportunities for ur-ban professionals. This involves helping uni-versities and professional bodies reach out toand be relevant for urban professions.

Scoping studies in four sub-regionsUN-HABITAT has carried out four sub-region-al studies(1) to help design interventions thatcan enhance the relevance of selected tertiaryeducation institutions by addressing the chal-lenges faced by planners and managers con-cerned with sustainable urban planning anddevelopment.The studies give both a quantitative and qual-itative overview of higher education initiativesin the four regions, ranging from new masterscourses to regional continuing education pro-grammes. Some of the salient findings aresummarized below.There is a need to expand the professional in-teractions beyond the departments of geogra-phy, architecture, engineering and built envi-ronment, to include economic, social, legal,business and governance components. More targeted and flexible capacity buildingprogrammes need to be implemented, whichshould take into account the rapidly changingneeds of city managers, and which should alsoinclude the community level actors.The studies bring to the fore the need for in-vesting in processes that bring education,teaching, research, practice and policy togeth-er through a framework of interaction, fund-ing, and knowledge management, so thatagendas for both research and developmentinterventions are based on demand.The studies also highlight a number of promis-ing regional education, research and profession-al support initiatives designed to strengthen thelinkages between academia and practitioners.

Education and SustainabilityUN-HABITAT’s engagement in the areas of ed-ucation and sustainability includes partner-ing with tertiary institutions in networks ofmutual exchange of knowledge and capacitybuilding, such as developing course curricu-la for universities to include sustainable ur-ban development, and developing and pro-viding training for local government actors andprofessionals in this field.

Knowledge, skills and attitudes toachieve the MDGsUN-HABITAT has established contact with al-most 1000 academic institutions and traininginstitutes on the development of the agency’sGlobal Report on Human Settlements. Overth e past de cade, UN-HABITAT has focused onim pro ving knowledge, skills and attitudes oflocal government officials and civil society

partners in a range of thematic areas, includ-ing leadership and governance aspects, allgeared towards enabling them to attain theMillennium Development goals of poverty re-duction and sustainable development.This support has been anchored in the con-cept of "building capacity to build capacity"and has been accomplished by organizing re-gional workshops to develop capacity build-ing strategies; facilitating expert group meet-ings to analyze training needs assessment; de-veloping, jointly with national partners gener-ic handbooks and manuals; conducting train-

autu

mn

2008

· cities

14

THE TAILOR OF CHANDNI CHOWK, DELHI, INDIA • © UDIT KULSHRESTHA

REFLECTIONSEducatio

n an

d S

ustain

ability

15

ing of trainers and action planning workshops;and assisting training institutions to designand implement national training programmes.Ninety national and regional training and ca-pacity building institutions in forty countrieshave benefited from such technical, method-ological or catalytic financial support. The ex-perience of an ongoing strategic urban plan-ning project in 50 small towns in Egypt under-

scores the efficacy of capacity building whendesigned as ‘learning by doing’ and integrat-ed into an ongoing development initiative. Inthis case, the planning process at national scaleprovided the entry point and vehicle for capac-ity building. By training professional teams andresource persons engaged in supporting cityplanning efforts, capacities could be built, im-mediately utilized and mainstreaming initiat-ed, both in planning practice and in academia. The collaboration between UN-HABITAT andpa r t ners on education and sustainability cov-ers a wide spectrum of activities, including

impro ving access to quality basic education(e.g. the Human Values-based Water, Sanita-tion and Hygiene Education programmes inAfrican and Asian cities), reorienting existingeducation programmes (e.g. Habitat PartnerUniversities), developing public understand-ing and awareness (e.g. the World Urban Fo-rum), and providing capacity building andtraining (e.g. the development of a new Train-

ing Centre in Korea on sustainable urban de-velopment for the Asia Pacific region).

Sustainable Urban DevelopmentNetwork and Habitat PartnerUniversitiesThe Sustainable Urban Development Network(SUD-Net) was developed to help strengthenthe performance of national governments, lo-cal authorities and other stakeholders in ena-bling the development of livable, productiveand inclusive cities. SUD-Net’s long term goalis to enhance climate change adaption and mi-

THE TAILOR OF CHANDNI CHOWK, DELHI, INDIA • © UDIT KULSHRESTHA

REFLECTIONS

tigation, and preparedness of cities in develo-ping countries, though policy dialogue, tooldevelopment, capacity building and technicalassistance directly to countries. The Habitat Partner Universities collaborationis a means of enlarging cooperation with in-stitutions of higher education, as well as facil-itating exchange and cooperation betweenuniversities willing to promote the socially andenvironmentally sustainable development oftowns and cities in developing and developedcountries.UN-HABITAT works with the Habitat PartnerUniversities in building the capacity of terti-ary institutions in teaching and research re-garding the sound development of human set-tlements to meet the needs relevant to theircontext. This includes facilitating exchangesand working with tertiary institutions on en-hancing the quantity and quality of researchand training in sustainable urban develop-ment, aiming to make such knowledge moreaccessible and relevant to actors at city level.

New curricula and multi-sectoralplatforms

The long term outcomes of the cooperationare the integration of principles of sustainableurban development into the curricula of rele-vant university departments, and creation ofactive platforms for dialogue and collabora-tion of universities, local government, civilsociety, communities and the private sectoron sustainable urban development challengesand opportunities. Furthermore, outcomes arepartnerships to consolidate education for sus-tainable urban development in universities,leading to key university and professional as-sociation staff becoming more confident,committed and knowledgeable about sustain-able urban development approaches. New ini-tiatives include the development of flexible,inter-disciplinary professional degree pro-grammes, and other innovative tea ching/re -se arch/prac tice partnerships. Some early re-sults are shown below:Research work of students of the NorwegianUniversity of Technology and Makerere Uni-versity in Uganda is feeding into the sectoralstudies underpinning the new Master Plan forKampala.The Technical University of Helsinki is runninga series of “Sustainable Communities” cours-es for young and mid-career professionals incollaboration with UN-HABITAT, UNEP, theUniversity of Nairobi and the Asian Instituteof Technology in Bangkok.A new Masters programme on Urban Recon-struction and Development is being developedin collaboration with the University of Venice,preparing urban professionals for the chal-lenges cities face in the wake of disasters.

The University of British Columbia is creatingan ambitious global urban knowledge man-agement system called the “Habitat Archives”,an online archive for an urbanizing world,which will enable planners, administratorsand other city building professionals to gainaccess to greater knowledge and experience inhuman settlement practice.The Chalmers University of Technology hasentered into agreements with the Universityof Nairobi, and the Maseno University inKisumu, Kenya, on joint “reality based” edu-cation modules. This has generated joint ed-ucational programmes since 2005, and jointtutoring of PhD candidates.

The way forwardUN-HABITAT aims to continue to invest in de-veloping curricula on sustainable urban de-velopment with universities and expand itspartnerships with tertiary institutions. UN-HABITAT is also currently analyzing thefindings of the sub-regional studies, with theview of prioritizing intervention areas for aglobal support programme. Special attentionwill be paid to the potential of building on ex-isting sub-regional networks of universitiesand urban professionals. To highlight the importance of urbanizationas a key theme in education for sustainabledevelopment within the United Nations sys-tem, UNEP and UN-HABITAT will jointlyhost the 2009 Inter-Agency Committeemeeting of the UNESCO led Decade on Ed-ucation for Sustainable Development(2004-2015), focusing on ‘Education for Sus-tainable Urbanization’. At the fourth session of the World Urban Fo-rum, (3-6 November 2008 in Nanjing, China),the existing set of Habitat Partner Universi-ties, as well as universities in the process ofacquiring Habitat Partner University status,will meet to discuss their different approach-es to working with sustainable urban develop -ment. We need to stress, however, that the envis-aged efforts in the education sector shouldnot be seen in isolation. Education alone willbe insufficient as a vehicle to reach sustain-able urban development if the institutions,norms and legal frameworks do not supportthe promotion of sustainable urban devel-opment.

References(1) The four sub-regions are Southern Africa (8SADEC countries); Southeast Asia (6 ASEANcountries); West Africa (6 countries from theWest African Economic and MonetaryUnion, UEMOA); and Central America (5countries from the Mercado Común Cen-troamericano, MCCA).

autu

mn

2008

· cities

16

Educatio

n an

d S

ustain

ability

17

I NBR IEF

Dreams underpedal power

Thanks to the Citizen Participa-tion and Education and Child-hood departments, the CityCouncil of Córdoba,Spain, has introducedchildren into its budgetingprocess as agreed with theParticipatory Budgeting Citi-zens’ Movement Council. Boysand girls get involved in the edu-cational process and take part indrafting the city’s budget by sug-gesting their priorities. This process takes place throughthe city’s play centre service locat-ed in the city’s civic centres, pri-mary schools, parents’ associa-tions and community agents whoprovide a link between the schooland the play centre. Children agedbetween 8 and 12 years old maketheir suggestions on special forms.The educational and participativeproposals are directed in particu-lar at pupils in the 3rd to 6th yearof primary school.The heads of Education and Child-hood and Citizen Participationmeet with the parents’ associa-tions and school heads in order toget the process moving in their dis-trict. Information on the process issent to all primary schools so thatthe children can check the list ofproposals and can then make new

Edson Perdiguero Lara, a 26year-old Chilean, had thedream of portraying people’sdaily lives, hopes and strugglesthrough an epic eco-journey.He rode 3,100 km on a second-hand bicycle through theBrazilian regions of ChapadaVeadeiros, Golás, Diamantina,Bahia and Itacaré. As well astaking photos along the way,Edson wrote some 70 poemswith a socio-cultural and envi-ronmental focus on the reali-ties of the people who live in

Brazil’s rural areas, with theidea of putting these realitieson display in the city at the endof his trip.

http://olhares.aeiou.pt

The Learning for Sustainable Cities Project be-gan with the idea of helping young people toexplore the concept of sustainable cities byidentifying opportunities for them to becomeagents for change. Since 2001, a group of edu-cators from countries of the north and southhas identified good practices at sustainablecity level, working with local schools to trialthe educational materials. The project hasbeen coordinated from Manchester (UnitedKingdom), with partners in Banjul (the Gam-bia), Brescia (Italy), Curitiba (Brazil), Halifax(Canada) and Mumbai (India); its foundationsare in teaching and continuous learning withthe educational focus on education for sus-tainable development.

This experience has not just lead to a commoncore of teaching resources and case studies, itis also accompanied by specific trainingcourses for teaching staff to help make themethodology and working materials more ef-fective. The project has taken place simultane-ously in six locations worldwide where pupilsfrom different schools do not just act as agentsfor change in their immediate environment,but also exchange their own experiences. Theresults of the project have been put on the in-ternet, directed towards students and pupilsinterested in sustainability.

� (+44) 161 921 8020 · www.dep.org.uk/scities

ILE DE LA CITÉ • ©© GADL

contributions through boxesplaced throughout theschool. All of the city’s chil-dren are invited to a prioritymeeting to choose three ofthe children’s proposals. Sixyoung councillors (three girlsand three boys) are also cho-sen at these meetings. Theyattend the city’s Children’sCouncil, where the viableproposals in each district areset in motion, placing prior-ity on the criteria of solidari-ty and regional balance.

� (+34) 957 211 100www.ayuncordoba.es

VOTAR • ©

© LLU

NA DIVI FIG

UERAS

six

citiessustainable where the kids

decide

The council

autu

mn 2

008

· citie

s

18

I NBR IEF

The aims of the municipal centre for environmental ed-ucation in the Spanish city of Granada are to build capac-ities that help people know more about and understandthe city, interpret and value processes, changes and prob-lems that take place in it, empower the attitudes of re-specting and protecting the environment, and encouragecitizen participation.This proposal has come about thanks to the involvementof the City Hall’s Education Department. It questions themodel of a city, concentrating on new, more human andliveable models, taking into account the needs of every-body that lives in it. The programme mainly consists of a series of ecologicaltrails through different areas of the city where participantscome into direct contact with urban reality, developingtheir own search process and making a critical analysis ofthe city as a whole. In addition, based on this experience the educational in-novation team Huerto Alegre has created a series of envi-ronmental education materials on the urban environ-ment, Mi pueblo, mi ciudad, el lugar donde yo vivo, forthe Environment Department of the Andalusian Au-tonomous Government which has been working on the

ALDEA environmental education programme alongsidethe Education and Science Department since 1990. It alsocoordinates the “Eco-schools” programme in eastern An-dalusia.

� (+34) 958 228 496 · www.huertoalegre.com

Skills for lifelong learning, handling in-formation and situations, living in har-mony and life within a society are someof the ideas that have been put into playin each of the school projects organi-sed by the teaching staff at the Mixta no.44 secondary school in Guadalajara,Mexico. The aim of the projects that the pupilsare working on within the fra me workof programmes such as “Saving for the

future”, “Clean schools in Guadalajara”and “Rega ining green areas”, amongstothers, is to put into practice conten tacquired through self-organisation,interaction with a gen ts outside of theschool and practices linked to life wi-thin a democracy. In the case of “Clean schools in Gua -dalajara”, for example, pupils form workgroups where each of them takes on arole: as a representative before the

school and the local government, as tre-asurer, as secretary, etc. They then de-fine the goals that need to be met andstrategies for achie ving them, for exam-ple, setting up a circuit that encouragesrecycling the school’s waste. Finally,these goals and strategies are conti-nually reviewed and asses sed alongsi-de the teaching staff, turning what star-ted as a school project into a reason forchanging the shared environment.

My people, my city,the place where I live

Guadalajara, Mexico� (+52) 33 36088331/ 36088341

www.secundariamixta44.calidadpp.com

EL NIÑO DE LAS PINTURAS, GRANADA • ©© GABRIEL GARCÍA PEIRÓ

AFTER SCHOOL • ©© ANGE SOLEIL

Promoting

young agents for urban change

Educatio

n an

d S

ustain

ability

19

I NBR IEF

A regional study on the need for edu-cation in sustainability has been car-ried out in China, the former USSR andLatin America within the framework ofthe SD Promo project. This is part ofan initiative launched by a group ofEuropean universities: the Royal Insti-tute of Technology in Sweden, theTechnical University of Catalonia andthe Technische Universiteit Delft inHolland. The project’s goal is to pro-mote higher education in sustainabledevelopment based on setting up net-works with higher education institutesthat are interested in developing edu-cational strategies, curriculum con-tents and research into sustainability.Reports, interviews and surveys havebeen made to students, teachers anduniversities who have become awareof the current position of education forsustainable development, its needs,limitations and potential action areas. The university is therefore not just aplace where knowledge and contentsin connection with sustainable devel-opment can circulate and be pro-duced, it is also an authority that al-lows the educational institution to in-teract with other institutions, agenciesand/or social authorities (government,NGO, communities). Furthermore, theuniversity can be envisaged as a spacein itself where resource administra-tion, economic planning and the con-ceptualisation of the environment spe-cific to each space (building, universi-ty park, campus, etc.) take place basedon the sustainable point of view. In Latin America, the partial reportthat has emerged from interviews andsurveys that have been made gives theperception that activities concerningeducation for sustainable develop-ment (ESD) have a strong presence indifferent countries and institutions,but they are somewhat isolated, pro-moted individually, without a refer-ence context and lacking in synergywith similar activities. The report alsomentions the lack of resources andfunding available in the region, lead-ing to reduced or discontinuous aca-demic mobility amongst students andresearchers, who depend on external

agents to follow their degree courses.This lack of strategic support results instudents who are unable to plan an ac-ademic career in ESD in the mediumand long-term.The National University of Córdoba(UNC-Argentina), through FAUD’s In-stitute of Human Environment “Lil-iana Rainis”, has been named Region-al Coordinator of the SD Promo proj-ect in Latin America. From this region-al position, the UNC organises andpromotes conferences such as the 1st

Latin American Meeting of SustainableUniversities (ELAUS) and carries outvarious activities and projects aimedat fostering and articulating the differ-ent aspects of ESD. One of the most rel-evant activities headed up by the UNCis the UNSUS (Sustainable Universi-ties) programme. The project is a localinitiative set up by the Institute of Hu-man Environment to promote the sus-tainable development of the universi-ty based on strategies which reach allactors (students, teachers, non-teach-ing staff, etc.) and sectors that are in-volved in the management of the UNC. The main aims of the UNSUS pro-gramme are to promote the concept of

sustainable development in the aca-demic sphere and open new trainingpaths for the agents outside of the uni-versity. One of the most significant ar-eas concentrates on the sustainableplanning of the university park.

As the SD Promo report highlightsthe lack of articulation and supportfor local strategies and initiatives atregional level, the UNSUS pro-gramme of the UNC faces the sameproblems that are found in the region

at a local level. Although elementshave been incorporated which allowgreater dissemination and insertion ofESD (informative events, research,participation in conferences, ex-changes with other universities), UN-SUS stresses that they have not man-aged to achieve transformation orawareness amongst the differentmembers of the university (teachers,students, authorities, etc.) and neitherhave they observed functional or en-vironmental transformations that al-low them to visualise conditions forfuture sustainable development.

� (+34) 93 405 4375 · www.sdpromo.info� (+54) 351 4332091/96 · faudi.unc.edu.ar

ENCALLADO • © MARIANO CARRIZO

Education for sustainability, needs and limitations at universities

China, the former USSR and Latin America

autu

mn 2

008

· citie

s

20

I NBR IEF

The physical space of higher educationgoes beyond fulfilling a programme ofneeds: the university’s quality is that ofits architecture. This can be checkedby doing a historical and cultural re-view. Therefore, a campus should beplanned based on the desire for excel-lence in both its internal profile and itsrelationship with the city.Excellence, however, should likewisebe committed to how it is viewed fromthe outside. A campus is the best vehi-cle for communicating to the sur-roundings qualities that are inherentto its own essence: spatial harmony,sensitivity to the urban environmentand concern for the environment. Theconcepts of “educational campus” and“sustainable campus” have thereforebeen coined, and have sown the seedsof two recent projects.(1) Villamayor Campus, University ofSalamanca (1st Prize in “Designshare- The International Forum for Innova-tive Schools”, 2005). The paradigm ofthe “educational campus” is an inno-vative proposal, where architecture andnature surpass their role as passive set-tings and become topics in themselves,serving as curricular material whichbuilds compositional coherence andenvironmental quality. A campus willbe considered as “educational” if itmanages (beyond its function as ateaching space) to culminate in inten-tionally transmitting values linked to itsurban-architectonic configuration.These values will enrich campus users(whether they are members of the uni-versity or not), and will play a part in theconstruction of an exemplary habitat.University architecture should becomea lesson within the civic context, pro-moting innovation when it is imple-mented and grows in non-consolidat-ed sectors. The Villamayor Campus willact as a stimulus for the socio-econom-

ic and cultural development of thenearby city. It offers an architecturalcomposition that is in harmony withnature (where the splendid Tormes Riv-er sets it apart), where architecture andthe environment can become one andbe used for research (it is to house theFaculty of Environmental Sciences).(2) “Sustainable campus” project inSan Agustín de Guadalix (restrictedcompetition, 3rd Prize, 2007). Thisproject seeks to create a space whererenewable energies provide a guaran-tee of sustainability; these are outward-ly expressed as a way of signalling theidentity of Iberdrola who built the cam-pus. The campus is organised into 3sections – sun, water and wind - whichrepresent and promote the company’srenewable energies. The design solvesthe problem of supplying and main-taining energy, and the urban and ar-chitectural solution seeks to display thevalues of solar, wind and hydraulic en-ergies through the daring use of theform and language of these elements.Sustainability was embraced as a con-ceptual premise, in the sense that it wasinteriorised from the architect’s draw-ing board as an attitude rather than justa set of technical resources. In terms of urban links, sustainabilityis even more solid the greater the inter-relation between campus and city. Thecurrent lack of consolidation of the en-

vironment meant that future expan-sion had to be planned centrifugally inorder to bring about development,weaving a new urban fabric. There isnothing less sustainable than dupli-cating facilities between the universi-ty and the city. If, on the other hand,facilities for sport, culture, services, etc.are shared, this optimises investments,reduces maintenance costs and trans-mits the value of the common interestswhich should prevail in the identity ofthe university and the city.From a more technical viewpoint, sus-tainability translated into taking intoaccount renewable energies, the ap-propriate orientation of buildings (thedirection they face, wind directions),bio climatic solutions (ecological fa -çades and roofs), the design of openspaces (native plant species), wastemanagement and an emphasis on pu -blic transport, amongst other factors. Like the former “education campus”,the “sustainable campus” aims to dis-tance itself from excessively iconic ar-chitecture, preferring to advocatespaces which, through their silent har-mony, take second place to their es-sential mission: the all-round trainingof the human being.

Pablo Campos Calvo-SoteloDoctor in Architecture,

Technical University of Madrid www.utoplan.com

“Architecture cannot ignore naturaland human factors; on thecontrary, it should never do so...Instead its function is to bringnature closer to us.”

Àlvar Aalto, 1936

SUSTAINABLE CAMPUS (VIEW FROM THE WEST), SAN AGUSTÍN DE GUADALIX, MADRID • ©© UTOPLAN

an educationalandsustainable

paradigm

The urban campus:

REFLECTIONSEducatio

n an

d S

ustain

ability

21

The Yacyretá hydroelectric dam overthe Paraná River, the property of Ar-gentina and Paraguay, is the result ofstudies and projects carried out from

1920 to the present time. This project is de-signed to exploit the river’s potential for ener-gy generation, improve navigation conditionsand increase irrigation – the same as almost allinitial aims for the construction of megapro-jects around the globe.

The civil engineering works, funded by theWorld Bank, the Inter-American Develop-ment Bank and the Argentine Government,were started by the Yacyretá Binational Au-thority (EBY), created in the 1970s duringthe period of dictatorial military govern-ments. The EBY was set up to manage andcomplete the construction of the dam thathad been started in 1983 and had still notbeen finished due to delays caused by the

Ana Lucia de OliveiraArchitect and planner,studying for a Masters inSustainability at theTechnical University ofCatalonia and MAEC-AECID scholarshipholder

This article includesextracts from aninterview with JorgeUrusoff, coordinator ofthe Asamblea Binacionalde Afectados porYacyretá.

The obliteration of the island of Yacyretá and the irreparable damagecaused to the cities of Encarnación and Posadas in order to build ahydroelectric project serves to reflect on the consequences of today’seducation and training model.

WOMAN WITH BABY • © COURTESY OF THE NEWSPAPER 1ª EDICIÓN

A harsh lessonto be learnt

Yacyretá mega development project in Paraguay & Argentina

REFLECTIONSau

tum

n20

08 ·

cities

22

YACYRETÁ DAM • © COURTESY OF PRIMERA EDICIÓN NEWSPAPER

RIVER / BATHING AREA • © MÓNICA GIMÉNEZ / DIVIDING THE RIVER • © COURTESY OF 1ª EDICIÓN NEWSPAPER / BRICK MAKERS • © ARGEO AMEZTOY / HUGE FISH • © ARCHIVE FAMILIA ROMÁN

increase in administrative costs and a ma-jor diversion of funds.

The cities of Encarnación in Paraguay and Po-sadas in Argentina, located on the island ofYacyretá, directly suffer from the impacts ofthe dam. The dam’s facilities extend for 72 km,ma de up of the hydroelectric plant, navigationlock, spillways and other structures.

At its current fill level, the reservoir at an ele-vation of 76 metres above sea level (masl) oc-

cupies a surface area of 110,000 hectares, witha flooded area of 52,600 hectares, and has a po-wer capacity of 1,710 MW with an annual ge-neration capacity of 11,200 GWh. Current in-vestment has already reached US$ 13,000 mi-llion before the work is completed. The pro-ject’s final elevation will be 83 masl, which willheighten the impacts generated previouslytwo-fold, increasing the power capacity by 990MW and supplying a total of 25% of Argenti-na’s energy demands; this country is the dam’smajor beneficiary. After elevation to the final

REFLECTIONSEducatio

n an

d S

ustain

ability

23

RIVER / BATHING AREA • © MÓNICA GIMÉNEZ / DIVIDING THE RIVER • © COURTESY OF 1ª EDICIÓN NEWSPAPER / BRICK MAKERS • © ARGEO AMEZTOY / HUGE FISH • © ARCHIVE FAMILIA ROMÁN RELOCATION / FLOODED • © JUAN ROA / RUBBISH / PROTEST / HOUSES • © ARGEO AMEZTOY

planned level, the total area of flooded landwill be 122,000 hectares, of which 24% is in Ar-gentine territory and the remaining 76% in Pa-raguay.

Yacyretá is a prime example of projects which,due to the immeasurable impacts based on theconstruction of development conditions, bre-ak up the natural organisation that had builtup on the land and in the cities. The social im-pact currently means that 100,000 people havebeen affected, with 55,000 of these having

been forcibly displaced. They have not just losttheir physical space, they have also lost theirli vi ng space. Prior to the project they lived ina sustainable local system of working in aharmo nious community and neighbourhood,depending on fishing, the river ecosystem,fer tile land and flora and fauna for shared use.The flooding process to create the reservoirdestroyed the healthy systemic relationshipbetween the riverside dwellers and their natu-ral habitat, as well as causing poverty and hun-ger for tho se who were displaced. Many mi-

REFLECTIONSau

tum

n20

08 ·

cities

24

grated to near by towns in the search of essen-tial living con ditions. All the same, the at-tempts of those a ffe cted to participate did notmanage to gain gro un d in the decision-ma-king process on relocation.

What educational proposals would youmake for people who are experiencingthis life-threatening situation? "You can’t tell the people who the educationis aimed at (which in general is the leastprotected population) that they are the cau-se of the problems that lead to non-sustai-nability, so... Educating them so that theyimprove what others do is like doing thework in reverse!

In areas where predators are on theloose, what can you teach the victims? Paraguay is immersed in a planetary contextwithin which the situation cannot be resolvedin isolation. Deforestation, “soy-ization” andthe consequent pollution all have externalcauses: Monsanto’s bloody-mindedness, andthe ethics and morals of pseudo-businessmen,for example. Therefore education needs to res-tore and promote people’s human values,adapting to their time-frame and methodo-logy in order to uphold to some extent a cer-tain quality of life that will improve the seriousdissatisfaction of people’s basic needs. It alsoneeds to raise people’s awareness and cons-ciousness to help them wrestle with adversity.

In these cases I believe we can talk about pe-ople who also wrestle within the field of edu-cation as there are endless serious problemsto be figured out. Education should serve toimprove the quality of life and defend it nomatter what.

We have to seek educational independenceso that it reaches people in a way that theycan exploit to the maximum. They should notconform to the destruction of their persona-lity and to their emasculation as individualskeen to improve and become free of oppres-sion. This is what has happened up to nowin education.

This therefore implies a fight: I would call theperson who knows what he has to do a fighter,as he knows the truth and follows the path to-wards getting things done.We cannot discusssustainable education on a global scale be-cause the problems of each population sec-tor are different, the realities vary and the va-lues being managed are different. “Even thestakeholders have different roles.” (Jorge Uru-soff, coordinator of the Asamblea Binacionalde Afectados por Yacyretá [bi-national unionof people affected by Yacyretá dam])

Here we describe certain reparation initiativesthat have taken place through citizen partici-pation, cooperation and support in the case ofother dams. The Itaipú Hydroelectric Dam on the ParanáRiver,property of Brazil and Paraguay, has theCultivando Agua Buena programme which hasthe following objectives: clearing polluted are-as; preserving flora and fauna, and environ-mental education as a complementary activitythat goes one step further and unifies actionslinked to the environment.

The environmental sustainability initiativestaking place within the towns in the dam’s areaof influence are based on the principles of so-cio-environmental responsibility and on a co-responsibility system of participation from thecommunity, institutions, universities, govern-mental bodies, NGOs and associations.

Salto Caxias in Brasil, a dam on the Iguazú Ri-ver, offers the example of the construction ofthe settlements programme within a partici-pative social process. Exercising democracyand supporting the leftist political parties andother organisations that sympathise with thisideology produced the cooperative interactionnecessary for the programme’s success. Theprogramme also restored the community bybuilding supportive family and economy agri-culture and cooperation.

The construction of Yacyretá caused damagethat could appear in different categories in ac-cordance with the appraisal criterion that is tobe used, and with non-quantified socio-cul-tural and environmental damage: the loss ofEncarnación’s built and intangible cultural he-ritage, the loss of cultural identity of the indi-genous island people, people’s means of sub-sistence, to name but a few. Moreover, it haslead to the loss of biodiversity, endemic spe-cies, forest resources, flora and their phytoge-netic resources , cultural-ancestral habitats ofindigenous communities and fertile soil foragriculture. Other problems are eutrophica-tion, salinisation and pollution of water re-sources, caused by the expansion of towns inthe area surrounding the dam and taken as anindirect and unanticipated effect of the pro-ject. The degradation has lead to "dead zones"of coastal waters; this name was coined in theUnited Nations report, “In Dead Water” .

Almost 88 years of studies furnished to theYacyretá project invite us to think seriouslyabout the cause of these socio-environmentalimpacts of incalculable dimensions. Theexample of Yacyretá, one of over 45 thousanddams throughout the world that have affectedsome 80 million displaced people, is a indica-

REFLECTIONSEducatio

n an

d S

ustain

ability

25

tion of poor training models reproduced overthe years in our educational system, the sour-ce of the unsustainable solutions produced inthe name of economic development.

References- yacyreta.info- www.internationa lrivers.org- www.boell-latinoamerica.org

- DÍAZ, Peña Elías, STANCICH, Elba (2000), NoMás Daños en Yacyretá. Amigos de la TierraArgentina, CEDHA, FUNAM, Fundación Pro-teger, Red de Asociaciones Ecologistas de Mi-siones, Taller Ecologista, BIC, CIEL, IRN, SO-BREVIVENCIA, Amigos de la Tierra Paraguay.

- TEROL, Guillermo, REID, John (2004). Ben-eficios y Costos de Elevar la Cota del Proyec-to Hidroeléctrico de Yacyretá. Un estudio de

International Rivers Network and Estrate-gias para la Conservación. ConservationStrategy Fund.www.conservation-strategy.org/ en/ publications/ reports -

- ZAAR, Miriam Hermi. La economía solida-ria como solución a la sostenibilidad de laagricultura familiar: el caso de los reasenta-mientos Crabi, Brasil. Scripta Nova. RevistaElectrónica de Geografía and Ciencias So-ciales, University of Barcelona. Special issuededicated to the IX International Collo-quium of Geocriticism. www.ub.es/ geo-crit/ sn/ sn-24549.htm

(2) fao.org/AG/CGRFA/spanish/itpgr.htm

(3) In Dead Water. Merging of climate changewith pollution, over-harvest, and infesta-tions in the world’s fishing grounds, Norway. www.grida.no

YACYRETA DAM SLU

ICE GATE ROOM • © COURTESY

OF PRIMER

A EDICIÓN NEW

SPAPER

autu

mn 2

008

· citie

s

26

I NBR IEF

In large cities in Africa and southerncountries in general, spontaneouslycreated neighbourhoods representmore than half the urban area. Most ofthese neighbourhoods, normally creat-ed due to country to city migration overrecent decades, suffer from a seriouslack of urban services due to their rap-id growth.The Catalan Association of Engineerswithout Borders and the CameroonianNGO ERA-Cameroun have worked inYaoundé (Cameroun) since 2002 withthe goal of improving facilities in homeslocated in these areas of spontaneousgrowth which do not have access to ba-sic urban services. The activities are or-ganised around neighbourhood proj-ects; in other words, they are based oninterventions founded on strengthen-

ing the social fabric and on the progres-sive involvement of public powers inmarginal areas. The aim of these activ-ities is that residents become aware oftheir rights and duties as citizens and,in turn, help homes to raise their in-come level so that they can increasetheir capacity to invest in their ownhomes and to pay taxes and local rates. In terms of infrastructures, the pro-gramme focuses its activities on basicservice networks: roads and publicspaces, the water supply and sanitation.In the socio-economic sphere, activitiesconcentrate on giving impetus to localinitiatives which create work in theneighbourhoods and respond to pub-lic services that are not managed by thelocal government.

� (+34) 93 302 2753 · www.esf-cat.org

The Health, Safety and Environment Office ofthe University of Barcelona has designed andproduced the exhibition A planet to be sha-red: The ecological footprint (Un planeta porcompartir: La huella ecológica), which can beborrowed from the Barcelona Sostenibleresource centre. The exhibition calculates thecity’s footprint and that of the in sti tutionitself, and is accompanied by a CD that lets uscalculate our ecological footprint, or in otherwords, the surface area that we would need toproduce the resources we consume.

Under the umbrella of internal trainingwithin the University itself, and still as a pilotstudy in a few secondary schools, this servicehas devised several practical workshopswhere role-playing is used to help us find outthe impact of our daily activities on the pla-net, and whether Earth has sufficient resour-ces to maintain our lifestyle. The game usesdifferent profiles of Barcelona residentsaccording to their habits in areas such as con-sumption, home, waste production andmobility.

Barcelona’sfootprint

Transformingneighbourhoods from the home

� (+34) 93 403 4505www.ub.edu

TORRE AGBAR BARCELO

NA • ©© MEGAPIKSEL

WOMEN’S DAY, NEIGHBOURHOOD PROGRAMME,CAMEROON • © ENGINEERS WITHOUT BORDERS

Educatio

n an

d S

ustain

ability

27

I NBR IEF

Catalonia and Barcelonaare two of the key players inthe current and future pro-cess of bui lding the latesturban concentration in theEuro pean Union: the Medi -terra nean coast. A popula-tion of a p p roxima tely458,000,000 inha bitants iscon ce ntrated across theentire Medite rranean coas-tal region. If the touristphe nomenon is the epito-me of that of the contem-porary ur ban scene, it isessential that those res-ponsible for its de velo pme -nt attempt to transformthis market phenomenoninto a privileged environ-ment for research.

A team of teachers from theESADE Centre for TourismManagement and Inte -lligent Coast at the Tech -nical Uni versity of Cata -lonia, are doing researchinto redefining the tourismand planning model of thecity of Barcelona. Theyhave designed a surveyaimed at di f fe rent profes-sionals from the t o u rism,planning and sus ta i nabilitysectors in order to re flecton whether the city’s tou-rism model si nce 1980,bas ed on organising majorevents, has been a successor is coming to an end.

� (+34) 93 4 51 3 664www.intelligentcoast.es

Tourism, planning and sustainability

Conflict or coexistence?

METRÔ SUPERFÍCIE, BRAZIL • © GILHERME MARTAROLI

Mapping the city in green

GREEN CITY

MAP OF B

ARCELO

NA • ©

ECOSERVEIS/ BARCELO

NA CITY

COUNCIL

The international organisation Green MapSystem supports the creation of city greenmaps. This is a social project for environ-mental participation. The idea encouragesdialogue between participants and in theneighbourhood itself, and sets the founda-tions to turn knowledge into responsibleaction in favour of a healthier environment.The activity aids skill development and pro-motes creativity and initiative whilst stim-ulating organisational ability.The rationale behind the project is to buildcommunity portraits with changing per-spectives; these act as extensive inventoriesfor political decisions and practical guidesfor residents and visitors. Over 350 greenmaps have already been published. Thegreen maps are a guide to natural and sus-tainable resources for urban city living.They show a wide range of nature and ecol-ogy organisations, natural therapy and en-vironmental education centres; they tell uswhere to explore and visit gardens and ur-ban landscapes of ecological interest,unique green spaces and panoramic views;they show us how to make the most of pub-lic transport and bike lanes, and also whereto find recycling points. These maps are avery interesting educational device thathelps people get to know their immediatesurroundings and can be used both in andout of the classroom. www.greenmap.org

autu

mn 2

008

· citie

s

28

I NBR IEF

Neurônio is an organisation withheadquarters in São Paulo which or-ganises events and activities to pro-mote “citizen activation” in compa-nies, educational institutions, civil andgovernment bodies. “The citizens’game” has arisen from this pro-gramme. With a competition format,it has offered theoretical and practicalexercises to university students andteachers since 2003 with the aim oftraining them in areas linked to socialresponsibility, sustainability and thedevelopment of diversity. The game allows grade students andteachers (who have been included forthe first time this year) from all overBrazil to access a series of training-based activities and exercises that de-velop their leadership skills. An inter-esting feature of the game, introduced

in 2006, is that it works entirely in dis-tance format through the use of e-learning tools: videoconferences, tu-torials, forums and digital publica-tions. Once the training stage is com-pleted, the game’s participants have towork on a case study: they do a re-search project on one of the organisa-tions taking part in the game (compa-nies, NGOs, etc.), analyse the contextand the processes that they are in-volved in and discuss current and po-tential problems and solutions (socialinsertion, links with the rest of thecommunity, etc.).Finally, participants of the game do anon-line test. Using a points system ac-cording to their results and case solv-ing, the best participants are awardedprizes and their solutions to the casesdiscussed are put up on the website.

National capacity-building

programme in cities Brasilia, Brazil� (+55) 61 2108/1574www.cidades.gov.br

The passing of City Statute law 10.257/01 alongside theFiscal Responsibility Law approved by the Brazilian gov-ernment represented greater democratisation and trans-parency in the city budget framework. Some years ago theneed to train technical teams and political, social and tech-nical agents who participate in the development of urbanpolicies in cities was recognised. The Ministry for Citieshas therefore set in motion the National Programme forTraining Cities (PNCC).

Through the PNCC, the Ministry has a full-time trainingroute available where it can train technical teams who areable to face the changes needed to modernise the man-agement and development of city policies. Offering sem-

inars, courses, publications and other activities, it trainscity agents, politicians and civil servants in general in themany areas that make up urban planning: finance, set-upand organisation of censuses, traffic, rainwater infrastruc-ture, waste handling and budget setting, amongst others. Through an agenda that is regularly updated, the PNCCoffers in situ and distance activities, and also sends teamsto different cities for training. In addition, the Ministry ofCities supports and manages academic projects producedby the federal institutions of higher education. These areaimed at contributing to urban development, and at ar-ticulating the policies of cities and their needs at a nation-al level with the theoretical framework and tools offeredby the universities.

São Paulo, Brazil · � (+55) 11 2122 4267 · www.jogodacidadania.com.br · www.neuronio.com.br

Neurônioe-games for citizens

PERFECTION, BRASILIA • ©© SEIER+SEIER

LEGO PEOPLE • ©© JOE SHLABOTNIK

Educatio

n an

d S

ustain

ability

29

I NBR IEF

The idea that prompted seven towncouncils of the vast metropolis of San-tiago de Chile to join together to forma consortium around the Protege proj-ect in 1993 was to rescue the AndeanPrecordillera from neglect and aban-donment as part of the natural her-itage for current and future genera-tions. This 13,352 hectare area adjacentto the city, known as the Precordillerade Santiago Natural Park, is represen-tative on a world scale of a mountain-ous Mediterranean ecosystem. The aims of the project are to improvethe legal, institutional and politicalframework to create a conservationarea in the Precordillera, draw up anordinance and management plan,foster environmental awarenessamongst city-dwellers and encour-age the integration of the concept ofconservation in urban planning.With funding from the Global Envi-ronmental Facility (GEF), Protege hastaken the Santiago Contrafuerte proj-ect a step forward, enabling the area’sOrdinance and Management Plan tobe drafted. This has included the in-stitutional agreements achieved withprivate landowners and public bod-ies, legal, environmental and plan-ning studies, recreational and envi-ronmental education experiences,and the contributions of Chilean, in-ternational and civic specialists work-ing together in participative work-shops. A two-year action plan hasbeen approved for the present in ac-cordance with Chile’s BiodiversityStrategy which will combine Protege’slocal and community efforts with thepolitical actions of the government ona regional scale.Eighty-seven percent of the Chileanpopulation live in city centres andmore than 40% (approximately 6 mil-lion) are found in the capital, Santia-go. The main beneficiaries of theproject are, therefore, the city’s in-habitants. The future protected areaseeks to mitigate the processes of theloss of biodiversity and landscape

Conservation in urban planningExchange of educational experiences between

Santiago de Chileand Collserolla � (+56) 22750171

www.protege.cl

degradation, consolidate a new greenarea that will improve the city’s short-fall in this respect, contribute to landuse ordinance by harmonious inte-gration of the natural and urban en-vironment, increase educational,recreational and sporting opportuni-ties, and in short, conserve this nat-ural and cultural heritage for futuregenerations.One of the most important lessonslearnt from the whole project hasbeen the creation of an internationalsupport network with other peri-ur-ban parks and environmental educa-tion. A cooperation agreement wassigned with the consortium managerof Barcelona’s Collserola Park in 2003,with the understanding that these twoparks have similar characteristicsdue to their proximity to a major cityand to their prominence in Mediter-ranean ecosystems.The other important milestoneachieved recently by the project is theinauguration of the Aguas de RamónInformation and Environmental Ed-ucation Centre, thanks to the collab-oration of Aguas Andinas. The en-trance to the routes and to the areathat we wish to protect is found here.The centre offers educational visits forschools, companies and local peoplein general and helps regain the histor-ical, ecological and cultural values ofthe Andean Precordillera.

AGUAS DE RAMÓN NATURAL PARK, CHILE. PROTEGE

autu

mn 2

008

· citie

s

30

I NBR IEF

Globalisation through the growing in-terconnection of our world is accel-erating the cultural, social, techno-logical and economic changes thatwe are experiencing within society.The consequence is the need for pro-fessionals and students to continuetraining throughout their lives (LifeLong Learning). Transverse and inno-vative disciplines that have appearedon the educational map, such asthose related to sustainability, areprobably those that lead tomore demand for distancelearning. Non-con ven tio -nal dimensions co me intoplay in this type of train-ing, as space-time va -riables are not relevanthere.

The Eco-Union associa-tion defends educationfor sustainability as oneof the main tools for cul-tural change in society to-wards development that re-spects the enviro nment.Specifically, short postgraduateand pro fessional training cours-es on transverse topics allow indi-viduals to adapt to new trends in thesector in collaboration with the mainexperts in the fields being discussed.

As a recent example of Education 2.0,Eco-Union has run two virtual editionsof the introduction course to urbanecology and climate change in 2008.Of the 100 students who have under-gone this training, 25% work in publicadministration, mainly as council em-ployees, 25% in private companies andconsultancies or are self-employed,25% are students at the end of theirstudies or recent graduates and 25%work in the third sector. The averageage is between 30 and 35, with morethan 5 years professional experience.In general their motivation is both per-

Wiki, blog, chat, voice over IP, etc. New web 2.0 tools are popping up every year allowing people tocommunicate more quickly, more cheaply and (relatively) more easily. In parallel, our globalisedenvironment leads to complex and continual changes which require us to constantly update our

knowledge. Are we really making the most of these innovative technologies in the education sector?

education 2.0

tion given in Unesco’s Belgrade Char-ter. The training basically consists ofseven modules of approximately fivehours each: climate change, energy,water, mobility, con s truction, publicspaces and eco-design. Each moduleconsists of required background read-ing, a practical exercise to be directlyapplied in the student’s own environ-ment (ho me, work…), examples ofgood pra ctice and a debate. At the endof the course, in groups or individual-ly, a piece of work from each person’stown or city is handed in with ananalysis of the obstacles and opportu-nities faced by the city in a move to-

wards sustainability. Each participantis free to work with a fully flexibletimetable and personal attention butthere is also weekly planning of hand-in dates. In terms of tools, the coursecombines the use of the UOC’s virtu-al learning platform and its own virtu-al social network.

The training on offer is to be expand-ed over the coming months withcourses in different formats – inten-sive seasonal courses, advancedcourses – and several topic ar-eas – sustainable urban mobil-ity, bio-construction, eco-de-sign, etc. The project willcontinue with its philoso-phy of working on the In-ternet, involving top ex-perts from the private,public and associative sec-tor in each subject offered.

Given the positive results invirtual education and thegrowing need for continuous

training by the three sectors ofsociety (public administration,

private companies and civil organ-isations, NGOs and universities),UOC’s Campus for Peace is developingwhat will probably be one of the firstvirtual eco-universities in the world,tackling all knowledge disciplines froma sustainable approach. Other organ-isations such such as Eco-Union orEcoserveis are actively participating inthis process.

Recommended links- Free virtual training programmes:www.moodle.org

- Wiki: www.wetpaint.com/ education

- Social networking: www.ning.com

- Open Source educational material:www.ocwconsortium.org

- UOC’s Eco-university Campus forPeace: www.uoc.edu/ cooperacio

New Technologies

THETRAN

NYFLIC

KRVERSE(V1.1

)•©©SIOHBANCURRAN

Jeremie Fosse and Idoia Arauzo · www.eco-union.org

sonal and professional. They seek tocontinue to develop professionallythrough the course and/or retrain indisciplines closer to their personal as-pirations.

The course design is based on theprinciples of environmental educa-

Educatio

n an

d S

ustain

ability

31

I NBR IEF

A group of activists has been working since 1973 to pro-mote urban agriculture on Manhattan Island. They occu-py vacant plots in socially-conflictive urban areas andturn them into community gardens under the slogan It’syour city, dig it!They believe in the power of the commu-nity, gardening to transform the neighbourhoods.

This New York urban agricultural movement combinesthe perfect blend of education, organising and advocacyto help people set up their community gardens based ongrassroots groups. One of the most innovative pro-grammes is the Youth Mural Project where young peoplepaint colourful murals for the gardens, thereby nurturingnew community leaders. The other programme, theYouth, Art & Environment Fellowship Program, offersmentoring, internships and job skills to young people,who serve as community organisers, horticulturists, edu-cators, etc.

There are currently more than 600 self-run communitygardens. They are totally independent and the work isdone by a group of volunteers. Every week, these creativeand determined neighbourhood leaders provide a serv-ice to their neighbours, connecting kids with nature, pro-viding fresh vegetables and home-grown products, offer-ing a shady space for the elderly, planting trees and culti-vating green spaces in a city with high asthma rates.These green spaces are also used as living environmentalclassrooms and outdoor community centres.

The city centre is slowly starting to look greener and leafi-er, inspiring passers-by to bring similar experiences intotheir own neighbourhoods.

The Jane Goodall Institute, founded in 1977 andnow present in more than one hundred countries,is a global non-profit organisation which tries toraise awareness, empathy and support for human,animal and environmental problems in an attemptto inspire a sea change towards a sustainablelifestyle. Jane Goodall is an internationally recog-nised British primatologist with more than fortyyears experience at the head of chimpanzee re-search and conservation in Africa.The Institute came to Spain in 2007 with a markededucational vocation and with the following aims:to research the species in their natural habitats andin captivity, conserve and protect the species andthe environment and promote environmental ed-ucation, especially in young people, through the in-ternational programme Roots & Shoots and on aSpanish scale with the Biodiverciudad programme.This programme highlights the non-sustainablelifestyle of the developed world: large amounts ofnon-biodegradable waste are created; the habitatsof other species that we live alongside are destroyedor fragmented, with the subsequent impoverish-ment or loss of genetic biodiversity, species andecosystems. The Biodiverciudad environmental ed-ucation programme informs and makes peopleaware of the wealth of biodiversity that is all aroundus in the city; it is vitally important to preserve itand help people discover it. The dynamic of citiesmeans that as well as being an educational pro-gramme it can also be combined with leisure ac-tivities. Some of the other elements found in theprogramme are photographic competitions, in-formative material in comic format, eco-safaristhrough the city aimed at both schools and the gen-eral public and an eco-initiative competition withprizes such as trips to Africa.

� (+21) 25942155 · www.greenguerillas.org

Eco-safaris to discover

biodiver-cityGreenguerrillas

in the concrete jungle

LOOKING FOR CLUES • © JANE GOODALL INSTITUTE

COMMUNITY GARDEN • ©

© SHELLYS

REFLECTIONSau

tum

n20

08 ·

cities

32

autu

mn

2008

· cities

condition the type of relationships that areformed within a given community.

It is clear then that the city has an educatio-nal function, as do all other natural and ur-ban spaces. To develop this space we need toback mechanisms that include citizens inthe planning process, as public spaces andresources require public debate on their de-sign, production and management. In this

The city is one of themost complex cultural“products”, loaded withmeaning; it is built anddestroyed every day. It isa shared project wheremany pieces fit together,it is a legend and areality. The emphasis ofthis complexity does notlie in the city’s economicor political activity, butrather in its possibilitiesfor exchange andinteraction betweenpeople; the city is notjust a space but ratherthe group of citizensthat live in it.

Àlvar Fortuny MiróEducationalist, memberof Sinèrgies cooperative

www.sinergies.cat

Seen from the perspective of sociallearning, knowledge is a transversalvalue that we should apply with astrategic view to all aspects of life,

and although it is certain that the city’seducational value has not been formallyrecognised, we could also say that eve -rything in a city can be used as an edu -cational vehicle. Aspects such as land pla -nning or democratic quality can thus

Guidelines on making your city more sustainableGuidelines on making your city more sustainable

A city that listens, that understands,

that educates

A city that listens, that understands,

that educates

REFLECTIONSEducatio

n an

d S

ustain

ability

33

Other ways of creating a city thateducatesIf we accept this challenge, if we take as astarting point the idea that a city is not justan accumulation of inhabitants, a workingspace and streets to move around in, but in-stead also needs to be a space for providingreciprocal services, exchange, leisure andcommunity relationships, we should consid-er some of the utopian ideals (taking into ac-count that they help put us on the right track)that we should not lose sight of when aimingto create the city that educates:

- A city with democratic health: which oper-ates mechanisms of participatory democ-racy and furthers processes of citizen par-ticipation.

- A city that lives in harmony: which pro-motes civic and prosocial values.

- A comfortable city for everybody: whichfosters the inclusion of the most underpriv-ileged groups, which pursues equal oppor-tunities.

- A connected city: which strengthens its associative and social networks.

- A city that resolves rather than sanctions:which opts for the alternative managementof social conflicts with tools such as com-munity mediation.

- A city that values its heritage: architectur-al,natural, social and cultural. -A city that seeks responsible consumption: which reduces, reuses and recycles.

The city education projectThe search for different ways of including cit-izens in public policies is something that isgaining ground within local governments.Citizen participation, as an exercise in par-ticipatory democracy, works within theframework of rights and citizens’ responsibil-ities to achieve this aim. - Collect and take into account citizens’ con-tributions.

- Improve the design and efficacy of publicpolicies.

- Jointly responsible action from citizens andlocal government in public actions.

- Create the foundations for fully democrat-ic governability at a local level.

The educating city directly or indirectly in-vites citizens to sketch out a new urban mod-el that is better adapted and more suited toshared needs and interests. One examplecould be a town council that has to changethe design of the pavements. What shouldthey take into account? Shouldn’t they startby thinking about the needs of people whowalk, people who use a shopping trolley, peo-

sense, citizen participation in the organisa-tion of the area and in the organisation andmanagement of public aspects is indisputa-ble evidence of community development andsocial progress.

Opting for socially sustainable developmentwithin the urban context means discussingwhat city model is appropriate for the peoplewho live in it day after day, year after year, ba-sed on the fact that a city that is committedto its residents has to take everyone who ma-kes it up into account and try to see thingsthrough their eyes.

City planning is necessary, but more is nee-ded to build community spirit, living toge-ther in harmony, democracy… If we wish toplace a special emphasis on these aspects, weshould see to it that citizens do not just iden-tify with the city space, but also with the ad-ded values that this can generate. We need todefinitively change the idea of learning thatis based on the city for that of the city as a le-arning tool. This is a challenge that is defini-tely worthwhile.

THE W

ORLD

OF SLIN

KACHU • ©

© CATH

ERINE

Guidelines on making your city more sustainableGuidelines on making your city more sustainable

A city that listens, that understands,

that educates

A city that listens, that understands,

that educates

REFLECTIONS

ple with young children in pushchairs, peoplewith reduced mobility? In short, they shouldbear in mind the perspective of everybodywho may be an expert in this activity, not be-cause of their technical knowledge but be-cause of their daily experience

As such, the Proyecto Educativo de Ciudad(PEC) is a tool for reflection and debate thatwas established during the second half of theei ghties. Through the use of deliberative s pa -ces of citizen participation it defines severalco urses of action in the city’s educational po -li cy. Joint responsibility for this action is tak-en by the main actors, or in other words thelo cal government and citizens. This involves ara n ge of activities: analysing the city’s educati -onal challenges and reaching consensus u ponpriority courses of action for education (for -mal, non-formal and informal); creating co or -dination spaces with the city’s educational re-sources and services and generating an un -derstanding that is sensitive to educational is-sues and problems.

This process of joint reflection and construc-tion is carried out in three phases:

Diagnosis > Planning > Action.

Along these lines, the participatory diagnosisseeks to find a shared view of reality that en-compasses all of its complexity and that faci-litates the coordinated action of all involved.In order to do this the PEC makes use of diag-nostic techniques such as the creation of va-rious maps(1):

- The social structure map: which locates thearea’s different socio-demographic, econom-ic and educational realities.

- The school map: which shows the positionof the education system under regulation .

- The educational resources map: whichbrings together the area’s regulated or non-regulated resources (educational activitiesand programmes, key actors, networks andrelated spaces, etc.).

- The educational vision map:which sets outthe visions and concerns of the city’s resi-dents on the subject of education, under-stood in a broad sense, in relation to the areaand to participation.

Proposals are subsequently collected duringthe planning stage to complete the participa-tory process of defining a series of strategiclines as key elements for future intervention.These lines, in turn, open out into concretegoals and measures itemised by area.

A clear advantage of this type of work is thatonce the process is finished, we will haveachieved a series of substantive results (a fi-nal report with demonstrable information andinterpretations), and also some relational re-sults that will serve to put different agents andgroups in touch helping to create networksand alliances. During the entire process thepeople involved do not just become infor-mants, but instead they are active participantsin the process of reflection and social change.

So, to finish off, by being clear on the fact thatthe city is an environment that educates, andthat all social agents have responsibilities inthis education, we will be able to appreciatehow little by little an anonymous and privatescenario becomes a more inclusive realm whe-re people coexist harmoniously, and in turnour indifference turns into commitment.

References(1) Alegre, Miquel Àngel. "Projectes educatiusde ciutat: anàlisi de l’experiència acumu-lada i nova proposta metodològica: resumdels principals continguts de la guiametodològica". De Prop: revista de políti-ca educativa local, no. 15 (January 2006)

autu

mn

2008

· cities

34

BLOOD AND CHOCOLATE • ©© THOMAS HAWK

Educatio

n an

d S

ustain

ability

35

I NBR IEF

Over recent years, cities that haveshown willing have become educatingcities. In 1994 the InternationalAssociation of Educating Cities wasformalised, with headquarters inBarcelona. Since the beginning of the 1980s thecity of Girona has got various initiati-ves underway to consolidate its edu-cational role, and the EnvironmentalEducation and City KnowledgeProgramme was set up in 1993. Thedifferent activities are classified in twomain areas: city knowledge and pro-moting environmental awarenessamongst the city’s residents. The pro-gramme’s activities are usually guidedby an educator.The results show us that educators arevery concerned about which areas ofknowledge to transmit, and outsideobservation also verifies this; educa-tors recognise the importance ofexperimentalism, but in contrast, wecannot externally corroborate thattheir methods follow this route, quitethe contrary. Other importantaspects of education for sustainabi-lity are practically forgotten about:critical (and reflective) thought,team work, environmental educa-tion, thinking about the future.With the results and correspondingtheoretical frameworks we have rea-ched a proposal framed within educa-tion for sustainability. Sixty-five skills

and abilities are brought together tomake up the curricular guidelines fortraining. The educators are requiredto develop communicative skills thatfocus on knowing how to adapt mes-sages to the target group and knowinghow to select information; they needto be adept at triggering dialogue andable to handle non-verbal behaviourand communication. They also need to positively appraisethe development of critical thought

through the activities that they guideand have to know how this can bedone. The educators should be able tounderstand a holistic view of realityand put it into practice, meaning theyshould understand the functioningof the city as a system; be open to thedifferent fields of knowledge tounderstand and enrich the analysis ofthe reality of the urban environment;understand the city as a reality on alocal scale in connection with theglobal environment; know how toincorporate environmental dimen-sions (social, economic, political, his-torical, cultural, esthetical, physicaland biological), and cause an expan-sion of visitors’ ideas.We believe that educators need towant to develop a commitment totheir environment. This means thatthey have to want to stimulate thesensation of belonging to the cityitself, and move away from conside-

ring the city as just a physical contextfar from their personal interests; theyhave to understand the city as a lear-ning environment; they must suggestand seek formulas to be active andresponsible citizens; they shouldknow about and denounce the city’splanning, social and environmentalshortcomings, and not just sing itspraises; they ought to highlight thepros and cons of living in the city.

It is also necessary to be motivatedand find time to work on sustainabi-lity values, specifically those whichrefer to democratic citizenship: res-pect, tolerance, participation, respon-sibility and interest in public matters;respect for living in harmony and cul-tural diversity; solidarity betweensocial classes and between the city’sdifferent neighbourhoods; individualand collective responsibilities formoving towards sustainability.A historical city is a heritage city, andeducators who work in it should add ahistorical sense to the topics theyteach; they should highlight the heri-tage values of deserving urban lands-capes and not just those that are cata-logued as such; they need to presentthe city’s identity, customs and originsand share them with visitors; theyhave to know about heritage interpre-tation techniques and know how toapply them. All of this should takeplace without forgetting to discuss thecity’s future or possible futures whichall depend on what we do today.

Rosa M. Medir Huerta and Anna M. Geli deCiurana, University of Girona

www.udg.edu/greca

Educators and sustainability in historic citiesLooking

fornew educational directives

CULTURES IN BLUE • ©© LEONARD JOHN MATTHEWS

autu

mn 2

008

· citie

s

36

I NBR IEF

Medcities is a network of Mediterraneancoastal cities created in Barcelona in 1991at the initiative of the Mediterranean Tech-nical Assistance Programme (METAP),which in turn was established by the WorldBank, the European Investment Bank, theEuropean Commission and the United Na-tions Development Programme. Medcitiesprovides technical advice and strengthensdecentralised activities, raising awarenessof urban environmental problems, espe-cially in southern countries.Medcities’ networking is a tool used tostrengthen management capacity in re-lation to sustainable development in lo-

cal administrations, identifying in whichareas it is most appropriate to improve re-gional environmental conditions. The main aims of this city network are tobuild awareness of interdependence andshared responsibility on urban environ-mental policies in the Mediterranean,reinforce the technical, financial and ins-titutional role and training of councils inthe implementation of local sustainabledevelopment policies, develop the aware-ness and participation of citizens and con-sumers, and establish direct cooperationpolicies for the twinning of coastal Medi-terranean cities.

Mediterranean cities

clustertogether

www.medcities.org

MEDITERRÁNEO • ©© REV SANTINO

The National Programme ofCommunity Environment Pro-motion devised by Colombia’sMinistry of the Environment,Housing and Territorial Deve-lopment has trained around6,000 community leaders since2003. These individuals are seenas generators and promoters ofprocesses that promote citizenparticipation through the“Young Environmentalists”project in the city of Bogotá. The aim of the proposal is totrain 1,000 young leaders dis-tributed throughout the diffe-rent areas of the capital. Theproject is run based on the acti-vities of three ministries: Inte-rior and Justice, Social Protec-tion through the National Lear-ning Service and the Environ-ment offering operational sup-port to enable people to attendthe training course. The project has two facets.Firstly, it creates a tool that

trains leaders who promote citi-zen participation, social controland school and citizens’ envi-ronmental projects. Secondly,young people are given the op-portunity to attend free qualitytraining that will turn theminto community leaders withspecific skills such as the abilityto assess the environment, de-sign proposals and run projects.“Young environmentalists” isaimed at teenagers and youngpeople from 15 and 26 yearsold, with a planned total dura-tion of 240 hours (120 for studyin the classroom and 120 forfieldwork) to be carried outover 20 weekly meetings. At theend of the Bogotá experimentthe results generated will besystematised and evaluatedwith the intention of repeatingthe project in other cities.

Bogotá, Colombia� (+571) 3323603 (1601)

www.minambiente.gov.co

PERIFERIA BOGOTÁ • ©© CARLOS FERNANDO CASTELLANOS NEIRA

A thousand

youngleaders

for the capital

REFLECTIONSEducatio

n an

d S

ustain

ability

37

TRAFFIC

LIGHT TR

EE • ©© JO

DI CRISP

The phenomenon of lists is not just found inthe case of cities. Let’s have a look at advertis-ing. The car with lowest emissions, we read inthe advert on page 7, and on page 19 we findanother vehicle that claims its slice of envi-ronmental commitment. Efficiency is nowstressed as a selling point in some whitegoods shops. Our trusted salesman can lookus in the eye, without blinking, presenting

37

Branding vs sustainable cities

Competing for number 1 eco-city?

The press agencies serve upthis type of news with asomewhat mundane fre-quency. I ha ve just re ad, for

example, a recent news item from China.Today, a day like any other, they arestudying turning a rural area near Beijinginto the first eco-city in this vast, dynamiccountry. The article ex plains the innova-tions and im pro ve men ts that are to be in-troduced and which will trans form theplace into a paradigm of doing thingswell... Quite a symbol of sustainability. Atram system will be used to reduce people’sdependence on private ve hicles, and all thisso soon after the typical pri vate vehicle inChina moved on two wheels, thanks to hu-man traction! China, then, will have the mostsustainable city. This would be a sufficientlyinteresting title in itself if it were not becauseover recent months the media have alsohyped up other examples in the same waythat they talk about the case of this Chinesecity. Masdar, in Abu Dhabi, is a particularlyeccentric case as it is in the middle of thedesert and is being promoted by one of themain oil producers. There is also the crediblecase of Freiburg in Germany, or Portland inthe USA, which has been chosen as the mostsustainable city in the country that has thewell-deserved title of “the world’s mostwasteful country”.

The most sustainablecity, the mosteconomical car, themost efficient fridge...Excellence in the fieldof sustainability is aprized marketing value.What´s the point forteachers?

Oriol LladóEnvironmental journalistwww.oriolllado.cat

REFLECTIONS

one product after another: the most efficientfridge in the world, the most economicaldishwasher... Even the electrical companiesand oil companies have taken up the baton topresent their products in a race that wouldhave been unthinkable a few years ago, oftenwith a hint of the unnerving gesticulations ofschizophrenia.

Our liking for lists is a response to a market-ing strategy, that much is clear, and also tellsus a little about humans in the early years ofthe 21st century. Competitive, materialistic,fast and volatile. But that thought is worthy ofanother article, or perhaps a whole ency-clopaedia.

Let’s go back to the lists. The thing is that all thisfuss about which is the most sustainable city,the most efficient washing machine, the mosteconomical car, etc. has both a positive and anegative side. The positive side is that excel-lence in the field of sustainability is a covetedmarketing value; it is a brand that intereststourists and which seduces investors and cre-ates business opportunities. The negative sideis the hubbub that surrounds it, the worst edu-cational tool. Confused labelling creates dis-trust, not curiosity; the sum of superlativesmeans that we look at these proposals withirony, not with the desire to find out more de-tails. It is a shame, because pulling out thiskind of list should guarantee that interestingpractices and reflections are discovered. Theexample of Freiburg men tioned above seemsto be cut and dried, but the cases ofWanzhuang, near Beijing, and Masdar, in AbuDhabi, are very different. Which tools are avail-

able to help us see beyond the official and in-stitutional propaganda, which most certainlycarries some weight in these two cases? Howcan we filter out the messages for investorsthat the two news items probably contain?How can we separate the wheat from the chaff?Thorny stuff...

Does it make sense to turn to these lists insearch of learning values? It maybe doesn’tmake much sense to entrust this task to these“top ten” lists. At the end of the day this shouldfall to the educational community, academicpublications, government and producers andmanufacturers through the use of stickers andlabels, etc.

In fact, this thought leads us into a trap. Surelythe media and what they print also have im-mense educational and learning power? Ofcourse they do. They have this power, but it ismo re difficult to control it and adapt it to curr -icula. They ultimately mould the way in whichwe see things and how we interpret them. Pre-tending nothing has happened is a strategythat is as comfortable as it is ill-chosen.

The classification of objects or cities should beinterpreted properly. The journalism worldhas for some time fed off the “spec ta cu -larization of information” and the lists of “thecleanest”, “most polluting”, “most efficient”and a long etcetera are becoming increasinglymore common. They help simplify things andmake them more attractive, which is im por -tant when in a news item. The first job for theeducator and the student is to heighten theircritical view. This is an essential task within

autu

mn

2008

· cities

38

BEIRUT • ©© JAUME URGELL

REFLECTIONS

the entire educational cycle. Not just so theyknow how to “read” classifications, but ratherknow how to interpret news in general. In thiscase knowing how to analyse things is the firststep in learning.

Finally, we discover that in effect some ofthese lists are sufficiently interesting and cer-tainly have learning value. This will not be thecase of Wanzhuang or Masdar, but it will, forexample, be the case of Portland. The US por-tal sustainlane.com has offered a very inter-esting virtual space for some time now. It is ablend of social network and informationrepository. In 2006 the list mentioned abovewas published, classifying the city of Oregonas the most sustainable in the United States.The advantage in this case is that the peoplebehind the classification explain the criteriaused in an intelligent and somewhat ex ha -ustive fashion in an attempt to be transparent.

The interested reader can review the itemsanalysed and get an idea of the complexity ofthis venture. In truth, any type of classificationis a game, a way of organising reality, always soelusive, always so multi-faceted. It is thereforeimportant to be able to analyse the criteria fol-lowed. We certainly recommend you take alook at sustainlane.

But for sure, the United States is far away. It isfar in terms of distance, and far in terms of theconsumer culture and the administrative andpolitical organisation. There are some in te -resting initiatives going on in Catalonia. TheGeneralitat has its environmental awardscheme. The Environmental Forum has setup the Eco-city awards, with state-widescope. The awards given to Local Environ-mental Initiatives by Barcelona CountyCouncil are u sed to highlight good practicesrelated in this case to energy and water issues.From a different perspective the magazineOpcions also contributes rigorously and reg-ularly to a na lysing consumer goods from asus taina ble per s pective.

Maybe it is not spectacular stuff, given thatthe Catalans are known for their cautiousand careful nature, but it is a good start. Thestart of what? Of getting to know the lie of theland, for example. Innovative solutions.Maybe some of these towns are close to theschool or college... The award is, in this case,an excuse to get to know at firsthand an ex-perience that is worth following, that isworth getting to know.

Educational work could also be more proactivein nature. Perhaps through research credits,students could work in class on a system of in-

dicators that would allow neighbourhoods orareas of the city or town to be classified accord-ing to their level of sustainability. Distant fromthe news mentioned above, with their hiddenagendas included, this work could be an inter-esting way to perceive information and presentit in an easy-to-understand and attractive way.The act of creating the list would mean that thestudent has to manage complexity. But this isnot about doing mathematics. However pre-cisely because they are not mathematics, thechoice of good practices is more interestingand is even a cause for debate.

As the end result after this work the studentwill be furnished with greater maturity whenfaced with headlines that talk day after dayabout more sustainable cities, cars with feweremissions, or more efficient white goods.

At least, then, something good will have comeout of it.

(1)www.sustainlane.com/us-city-rankings

Educatio

n an

d S

ustain

ability

39

SALUTE TO SUSTAINABILITY • ©© PHILIP MCMASTER. THE SYMBOL "PEACE PLUS ONE"WAS USED TO MARK THE SUCCESS AND SECURITY OF THE OLYMPIC GAMES IN BEIJING; 1: GREEN 2: HI-TECH 3: PEOPLE

autu

mn 2

008

· citie

s

40

EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES

PUBLICATIONS

La ciutatAn interactive book that helps identify the differentaspects of the city: physical (a square, the underground),social (ways of living and working), historical and func-tional (mobility, water pipes, etc.). From the age of 5.

Anne Royer. Editorial Cruïlla, 2007www.cruilla.cat (Spa, Cat, Fre)

Cuando los niños dicen ¡Basta!The author gives children the right to speak, and throughthe use of 26 phrases brings together their protests andproposals. The book sets out the importance of listeningto children and of being prepared to defend their posi-tions and needs.

Francesco Tonucci. Germán Sánchez RuipérezFoundation, 2003

www.fundaciongsr.es (Spa, Cat, Eng, It)

INFANT AND PRIMARY EDUCATION

Big City PackThis pack (a book and poster) focuses on four cities:Glasgow, Phnom Penh, Santiago and Dakar. The activi-ties invite pupils to relate their knowledge of their citywith the rest of the world. It explores topics such as mar-kets and shopping centres, transport and leisure.

Oxfam, 1994.publications.oxfam.org.uk (Eng)

Children’s participation in sustainabledevelopmentA manual which contains participative principles andmethods to get children involved in environmental andcommunity development projects. Some of the experi-ences presented refer to planning, design and the con-struction of spaces and facilities.

Roger A. Hart. Barcelona: P.A.Uno. Education, 2001www.paueducation.com (Spa, Eng)

Here we offer a selection of teaching resources related to cities, urban ecology and citizenparticipation which are available at different educational levels. We have prioritised original and newresources that are available in several languages and are easy to find on the Internet. Please bear inmind that some resources are suitable for several levels. The language of the resource is indicated asfollows: Spa: Spanish; Cat: Catalan; Eng: English; It: Italian; Fre: French; Gal: Galician; Bas: Basque.

Teaching ResourcesTeaching Resources

THE ILLUMINATED CROWD • ©© SYLVAIN RACICOT

Educatio

n an

d S

ustain

ability

41

EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES

MULTIMEDIA AND WEBSITES

ElectrocityA simulation game similar to SimCity where children cantest out their skills in running a town. They have to getenergy, water and other resources for the citizens, as wellas planting and cutting down trees, and need to adapt toclimatic variations. Includes a teachers’ guide.

http://electrocity.co.nz (Eng)

Child Friendly Cities - UNICEFThe UNICEF Child Friendly Cities programme aims topromote and foster the application of the Convention onthe Rights of the Child within local organisations. Itincludes an Expert Forum, as well as a library specialis-ing in childhood and local government.

www.childfriendlycities.org (Spa, Eng)

Greener FuturesAn interactive website that covers different areas such aswaste, water, energy, nutrition, transport and biodiversi-ty in the urban environment, and offers surveys, data-analysis tools, games and puzzles that help build thesetopics into classic school subjects like science, geogra-phy and citizenship.

www.greenerfutures.com (Eng)

Create your futureA website for children, designed to make them thinkabout and plan a sustainable future. It offers news, sto-ries and other educational resources.

Published by the NGO Japan for Sustainability.www.kidsforfuture.net (Eng)

Teach SustainabilityThis website is a resource sharing database to supportteachers exploring sustainability issues in their class-rooms. This database allows open and free sharing ofresources that have been developed or sourced by schoolteachers and educators.

www.teachsustainability.com.au (Eng)

Adventures with Bobbie BigfootThis website provides an interactive quiz to help kidsunderstand how food choices, transportation choicesand more affect a person’s ecological footprint.

www.kidsfootprint.org (Eng)

EcokidsEcoKids is Earth Day Canada’s environmental website forkids. It features online games, links for homework helpand contests, as well as printable resources for parentsand teachers.

www.ecokids.ca (Eng)

Oxfam ResourcesThe website of the Oxfam organization provides variousresources for teachers, journalists, researchers and poli-cy-makers among others that are useful for classes.Citizenship, commerce and social aspects are worked onusing their publications and resources in general.

www.oxfam.org.uk (Eng)

SECONDARY EDUCATION

PUBLICATIONS

Saving EnergyThe Alliance to Save Energy offers educators a widerange of tools and resources to bring energy efficiencyinto the classroom to save energy while helping studentsbuild vital real-world skills.

www.ase.org (Eng)

Radio for changeThis CD-Rom contains ready to use classroom activitieson the 8 key concepts of the global dimension - humanrights, sustainability, conflict resolution, values and per-ceptions, social justice, interdependence, diversity andglobal citizenship. Includes worksheets, role plays,songs, quizzes and links to websites for further work.

Global Link.www.globallink.org.uk (Eng)

Wall to wall designThis pack examines the design and construction of sus-tainable homes. It is intended to help students to consid-er sustainable issues as part of Design and Technology.There are two detailed case studies: one of Masai homesin Kenya and one of a housing scheme in the UK.

Practical Action Publishing.www.developmentbookshop.com (Eng)

Imaginative Leaps: Creative arts andsustainable developmentThis booklet, published by the Development EducationCentre South Yorkshire (UK), is aimed at school, youthand community arts groups, and outlines ways in whichissues of sustainable development can be used as stimulifor creative work in art, drama, dance, music or design.

DEC(SY), 1995www.decsy.org.uk (Eng)

This city life: Street Children Around theWorldThis pack, with a video and activity books, was devel-oped to promote understanding and discussion of whyyoung people in three different cities have chosen to liveon the streets.

Leeds Development Education Centre, 1999www.leedsdec.org.uk (Eng)

MULTIMEDIA

SimCityElectronic simulation game on the creation and runningof a city. From the age of 14.

www.simcity.ea.com (Spa, Fre, It, Eng)

autu

mn 2

008

· citie

s

42

EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES

MySustHouseMySust.House is an interactive game that allows you tochoose between different design elements when build-ing a home that is ecologically sound, healthy and suitsyour needs.

www.mysusthouse.org (Eng)

WEBSITES

Future ScapesThis website demonstrates how our day-to-day actionsdetermine the sustainability of our lifestyles. It helps usto think about our choices and understand how theyaffect our environment - our air, water, land, climatechange and greenhouse gases, waste management andbiodiversity (the variety of animals and plants).

www.futurescapes.com.au (Eng)

Learning for Sustainable CitiesThe result of an international project with the participa-tion of educators from cities in six countries, this websiteoffers a series of resources and practical activities thatinclude case studies, a training programme for trainers,glossaries of sustainable cities and assessment methods

www.dep.org.uk (Eng)

Urban EcologyThe Educ@lia portal lets us calculate our ecological foot-print by answering a questionnaire called Urban Ecologywhich looks at different issues (home, food, transport,buying and rubbish) and makes a calculation related toour consumption and the waste generated. Containssupport material on citizenship.

http://educalia.educared.net (Spa, Cat, Eng)

MORE RESOURCES

ARE AVAILABLE AT:

SUSchoolInformation, inspiration, resources and workshops forEducation for Sustainable development

http://www.suschool.org.uk/ (Eng)

CENEAM: National Centre forEnvironmental Education

www.mma.es/portal/secciones/formacion_educación/ceneam01 Spa, Bas, Gal, Fre, Eng)

One Planet SchoolsAn educational programme by WWF which offers a wideselection of resources for primary and secondary educa-tion. It includes different games and interactive stimuli,teachers’ forums, evaluation indexes, teaching work-sheets, photos and sustainability plans for schools,amongst other materials.

www.wwflearning.org.uk/oneplanetschools (Eng)

Global Dimension WebsiteThis website is a guide to books, films, posters and otherteaching materials which support global, interculturaland environmental understanding.

www.globaldimension.org.uk (Eng)

Sustainable SchoolsA website created by the UK Department of Educationwhich offers multiple resources for teachers and pupilsto contribute to sustainability within the curriculum, onthe campus and with the community. It contains aresource library with an A to Z directory of lesson plans,learning materials, case studies and other informationrelated to sustainable schools.

www.teachernet.gov.uk/sustainableschools (Eng)

HIGH SCHOOL AND UNIVERSITIES

PUBLICATIONS

UN Habitat: United Nations HumanSettlement ProgrammeThe United Nations Cities programme publishes a seriesof publications, technical reports, analyses and studieson different issues related to the sustainability of cities,including development systems and urban manage-ment, urban planning, health infrastructure, urbaneconomies, housing finance, disaster risk management,social, gender and habitat inclusion, indicators, squattersettlements.

www.unhabitat-rolac.org (Spa, Eng)

www.unhabitat.org (Eng)

Sustainable Development on Campus:Tools for Campus Decision MakersThis site includes learning modules, case studies, actionplans, environmental policies, resources, forums andcontacts - all designed to help administration, studentsor faculty implement sustainable development on cam-pus - and also includes links to a “bookshelf” of keyreports and guides covering university leadership, greencampus administration, curriculum issues and studentactions.

http://www.iisd.org/educate (Eng)

Creating sustainable citiesThe author tackles the problem of urban developmentand the planning of sustainable cities that are in concor-dance with the ecological environment. It analysesurban environmental problems and offers original prac-tical and realistic solutions.

Herbert Girardet. Green Books, 2006.www.tilde.es (Spa, Eng)

Sustainable ArchitecturePapers, articles, case studies and other academicresources related to building materials, design, architec-ture and recycling topics.ttp://www.umich.edu/~nppcpub/resources/compendia/architecture.html

(Eng)

Educatio

n an

d S

ustain

ability

43

EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES

El paisaje del hombre: la conformacióndel entorno desde la prehistoria hastanuestros díasSince the beginning of time, human beings have mod-elled the landscape to express or symbolise power, order,comfort, harmony, control, etc. through a variety ofmeans, on different scales and with different forms, fromsmall gardens to whole cities. This book explains thecharacteristics of 28 different cultures and their interpre-tation into landscapes.

Geoffrey Jellicoe, Susan Jellicoe. Editorial GG - GustavoGili, 2004.

www.ggili.com (Spa, Eng)

Biodiversity: Sustainability and CulturesAn independent quarterly publication from Uruguay.This is a compendium of articles on the biological andcultural diversity of Latin America: urban ecology, com-munity rights, international politics, genetic resources,biotechnology and local options for resource manage-ment.

Editorial GRAIN and REDES-AT.www.grain.org/biodiversidad (Spa, Eng)

Landscape and Urban PlanningA publication that tackles urban ecology and land-useissues from a conceptual and scientific approach. Thearticles discuss ecological processes and interactionswithin urban areas, and between these areas and the nat-ural systems that surround them.

www.elsevier.com/locate/landurbplan (Eng)

AASHE PublicationsThe Association for the Advancement of Sustainability inHigher Education offers data sheets, publications, arti-cles and reports that reflect the different actions that var-ious universities and higher education institutions haveadopted across the United States.

www.aashe.org (Eng)

WEBSITES

European Urban Knowledge NetworkPortalThe main aim of this network is to promote the exchangeof knowledge and experiences related to the urban envi-ronment as a tool to support the definition of urban poli-cies. Each country has its own website for its nationalnetwork.

www.eukn.org/eukn (Eng, Spa)

Urban Ecology InstituteA non-profit organisation founded in the Boston CollegeLaw School (USA) that promotes the health of urbanecosystems through education, research and advocacy.The website contains learning resources and informa-tion on their educational programme and the NaturalCities programme.

www.urbaneco.org (Eng)

Urban Ecology Research LaboratoryA University of Washington research centre that is study-ing the impact of urban development patterns on eco-logical conditions in the Greater Seattle area, and howthese patterns alter ecological conditions (species make-up) through physical changes.

www.urbaneco.washington.edu (Eng)

World Changing. Change Your ThinkingA selection of experiences from all over the world for amore sustainable planet. It includes a section dedicatedto cities.

www.worldchanging.com (Eng)

ICLEI - Local Governments forSustainabilityWebsite of Local Governments for Sustainability, madeup of 865 towns and cities.

www.iclei.org (Eng)

European Environment AgencyThe European Environment Agency website includes asection on the urban environment, where we can findreports, news, information on indicators, publicationsand details of international events related to urban ecol-ogy.

www.eea.europa.eu/themes/urban (Eng, Spa)

Millennium Ecosystem AssessmentIt is an international work programme designed to com-pile and create scientific information on the conse-quences of changes in ecosystems for human welfareand the options available to respond to these changes.The reports contain a section on urban systems.

millenniumassessment.org (Spa, Eng)

Leaders for a Sustainable FutureThe Association of University Leaders for a SustainableFuture (ULSF) supports sustainability as a critical focusof teaching, research, operations and outreach at col-leges and universities worldwide through publications,research and assessment.

www.ulsf.org (Eng)

Sustainable ConcordiaThis is an organization that strives to create a culture ofsustainability at Concordia University, and therebyimprove the university community by making Concordiaan ecologically aware, economically responsible andsocially equitable institution.

sustainable.concordia.ca (Eng)

The global footprint networkInformation and resources to investigate and developprogrammes towards the calculation system that meas-ures the ecological resource use and resource capacity ofnations over time.

www.footprintnetwork.org (Eng)

I N TE RV I EW

“One of the things that most impressed meabout one particular Harvard student was see-ing her reusing and refilling a plastic bottlewith tap water to prevent the need to consumeand produce more plastic. Learning from oth-er people is fundamental for the creation of aculture of sustainability.”

What do you think is needed to getpeople to turn towards Education forSustainability?One way of starting is to imagine that 50 or 100years from now it will be possible to travel backin time. We should imagine the young peopleof 2050 or 2100 landing in our times and com-plaining bitterly about all the decisions thathave had an effect on them and their quality oflife. Sustainability brings the variable of time intothe foreground: decisions and relationshipsare in one time and their consequences in an-other. Accepting and understanding this helpsus to make the decision to be responsible sothat we can realise the impact of our currentbehaviour on future conditions.

How do you think we can improve linksbetween government and KnowledgeOrganisations (KOs) and thereby build asustainable focus in education?

The KOs have a duty to concentrate on re-search. It is their obligation to investigatewhat will happen if we do something or just letit slide, what will happen if we don’t manage toget people to follow healthier lifestyles, whatwill happen if we keep up current nationalpolicies. It is our duty to envisage and antici-pate the future that we expect to see. However it is even more so the government’s job,and it should concern itself with making the fu-ture viable. It can’t just focus on its own adminis-tration. When making public policies we shouldcontemplate their future consequences.

So the KOs build knowledge, the governmentneeds that knowledge, and a natural alliancethereby emerges. In this alliance we are alsoaware of the fact that the KOs’ insights are notgoing to be taken up exactly as they appear inthe field of academia and knowledge, butrather they will be reinterpreted from the gov-ernment’s perspective. It is important that civ-il society, NGOs and pressure groups also par-ticipate.

What could be done to get educators tolean towards Education for SustainableDevelopment? Something that may help is public debate. Ibelieve that public discussion nurtures whatyou are teaching. The work produced by pub-lishing houses and publications from the aca-demic community in part makes teachingpractices more realistic. These days great emphasis is placed on regula-tion through environmental legislation, butthe subject of mutual regulation should alsobe reflected in the work carried out. Thisshould be done through organised civil socie-ty, citizens acting individually and collectiveactions, amongst other things. The emphasison resolving everything through prison sen-tences and fines, or in other words tacklingregulation through legal penalties, seems tome to be non-sustainable if moral and culturalregulation is not supported. I think that it would be useful as a mechanismfor change for the education system to knowand monitor political tools such as public de-bates or public policies. Colombian law says“publish and comply” but I would add to this:“publish, explain, understand and comply”.

How do you think citizens perceive aSustainable City?In Bogotá mobility and security pose hugechallenges to sustainability. In terms of mobil-

autu

mn 2

008

· citie

s

44

“The media shouldchange its time-frame”

Aurelijus Rutenis Antanas Mockus Šivickas

Interview byAdriana CarolinaCortés Cardona,

Doctoral Candidatein Sustainability,Technology and

Humanism,UNESCO Chair of

the TechnicalUniversity of

Catalonia.

Antanas Mockus is a Colombian politician and philosopher ofLithuanian descent. He has served two terms as mayor ofBogotá, was the principal of the National University ofColombia and has run for the Colombian presidency. He iscurrently president of the Visionarios Por Colombia movement.

I N TE RV I EW

ity, cars are not sustainable so they will beheavily taxed and will become a luxury item.

Public spaces and the growth and manage-ment of the city have also become areas ofgreat importance for residents. Another pointto consider is what Bogotanos are going to liveoff, or in other words, what will be their eco-nomic base. A further concern is integratingthe city within the rest of Colombia and over-coming the country’s geographical limits. I ob-viously imagine a city that comes somewhereclose to having the necessary know-how.

What role do the media play in the urbanenvironment to help promote a NewCulture of Sustainability?The media essentially deal with this subjectboth positively and negatively. Positively be-cause they employ many emotions, and obvi-ously if emotions are not involved the con-cern for remote concepts becomes blurred.The media can make use of these emotions tohelp make people aware of the situation andbe more able to think that the choices theymake today will have consequences in 20 or40 years time. Put in another way, that today’sirresponsibility is paid for in the medium orlong-term; there are also sometimes immedi-ate consequences.The media should change their horizons interms of time. In other words, they areknown for very much working in the hereand now: they love to talk about what hap-pened yesterday, what happened today andwhat is happening now. They should widenthe space that they dedicate to evaluating

consequences and implications, and also toshowing that the present is the result of deci-

sions made in the distant past. The mediashould extend their horizons backward andforward in time and help us to educateeverybody to be aware of permanence andchange over time.

What mechanisms from the KOs wouldyou propose using to help citizensunderstand and apply the concepts ofSustainable Development?

It is quite reasonable that the KOs turn to theirown members as privileged witnesses to cul-tural change. Cultural change is a change inemotions, people have to learn to feel guiltywhereas beforehand they did not, feel shamewhen they did not feel it before, to be finedwhere in the past there were no fines, butabove all people should learn to appreciatewhat they have and this is an attitude of sus-tainable behaviour.In other words, it is not just about punishmentor sanctions as I have mentioned; it is insteadabout a sense of self-recognition that meansbeing visible, sharing the positive appraisal ofsomething (in colloquial language makingmuch ado about the good things), demon-strating and measuring progress, feedbackand explaining the point of no return. Therefore, I believe that the best mechanismsare mutual regulation, self-regulation, certainreforms of legal instruments, and above all agreat deal of discussion and debate which pro-vides context to these efforts to be coherent inwhat we teach, research and do every day.

Educatio

n an

d S

ustain

ability

45

ANTANAS MOCKUS • ©

© CÉSAR MARTÍNEZ

autu

mn 2

008

· citie

s

46

2 0 5 0V I S I ONS

Valentina Salzedo(8 years old) Bogotá, Colombia

I imagine a city that is safer for ani-mals, and which protects species thatare becoming extinct. That man cantravel to other planets, to visit and tolive there, and that 58 new planetsare discovered, with hotels on all ofthem.That you can study from homeusing computers but still see yourfriends. I imagine there being fewerpoor people.

Juan Manuel Manrique(8 years old) Bogotá, Colombia

I imagine my city with flying vehi-cles, portable parks inside a techno-logical device.The houses will bemade of metal, and water will be sup-plied by robots.There will be jets for man to fly, I willbe an astronaut and I’ll fly to themoon and work in tourism in outerspace.

Emy Plasencia(18 years old) Barcelona, Spain

The buildings will be made from dif-ferent materials to protect them fromthe sun’s rays, they will be automatedbuildings, and man won’t have tothink much. The cars won’t run onpetrol, they will use solar panels forenergy. Young people will have muchmore freedom.

Salim Espinoza(8 years old) Barcelona, Spain

It will be hotter and we will have towear special clothes. Children will bemore intelligent and all entertain-ment will be available at home, likegames consoles. The air won’t be sopure anymore and there won’t bemany parks.

Shi Wei(19 years old) Shanghai, China

There will be more people in thecities and fewer people in the coun-try. There will be more pollution, but Ithink that technology will help tochange and improve things.

Isabella Cardona(8 years old) Atlanta, USA

I imagine my city as a large city that ispart of Atlanta. The city will grow a lotand will become another neighbour-hood of Atlanta.

Julián Camilo Villa(18 years old) Bogota, Colombia

I imagine my city with hundreds ofbuildings belonging to multinationalbusinesses, everything more techno-logical, more modern vehicles, more“interactive” advertising with the fo-cus on protecting the environment,poverty better controlled but still ex-istent, ID systems for people, almosteverything recyclable or biodegrad-able, more congestion in the streets,more variety of cultures. I see it as be-ing more developed.

Matilda Liu(19 years old) Shanghai, China

I imagine my city with more peopleand covering a bigger area. Peoplewill work from home, thanks to ad-vances in technology. People willmove freely around the world, visaswon’t exist. The economy and workwill be internationalized. There willbe technologies that will help us touse other sources of energy apartfrom petrol.

How do youHow do you

imagine your city

imagine your city

Educatio

n an

d S

ustain

ability

47

2 0 5 0V I S I ONS

Alba Busquets(15 years old) Barcelona, Spain

Practically the same with streets fullof building work like they are now,and always trying to improve the city.However pollution will be the order ofthe day, with a dirtier environment. Ifthey were to apply very strict normsnow things could change, but by thelook of it, I don’t think things willchange much.

Patricia Lara(17 years old) Bogota, Colombia

I think that the infrastructure will bemuch better, for example motor-ways, hotels, stadiums and enter-tainment. More of the country’s re-sources will be used for tourism. In-frastructure of education, health andhousing will also improve. It will bemore organised.

Judit Fonts Coromines(15 years old) Barcelona, Spain

I imagine it with a lot more people,and the increase in population will re-sult in more pollution. There will befactories and businesses which pol-lute even more than those we havenow. I think that this pollution willmake the city lose all its charm.

Queralt Corominas(17 years old) Barcelona, Spain

I expect it will be a bit bigger than it isnow, with more buildings, but full ofimmigrants, because if they are al-ready here now, in 2050 it will be fullof them. I hope that business and in-dustry will have grown, compared tohow it is now.

Viviana Jiménez(mother of 1 daughter) Bogotá, ColombiaI imagine a city with many more parksand play areas for children, ideally theparks would have lakes. I imaginegreater mobility, more modern, eco-logical and safe transport, maybe airtravel within the city. Intelligentbuildings with lights that can be pro-grammed, but at a reasonable price.

Malena Pérez(mother of 2 sons) Barcelona, Spain

My city will have more buildings, few-er parks, or artificial parks, moreroads, polluted beaches, all clotheswill be synthetic, people will havemany more problems to deal withrelated to health and the environ-ment, there could even be immigra-tion from planet Earth.

Yoshihiro Uchida(29 years old) Tokyo, Japan

The population here is decreasingand at the moment there are very fewyoung people, which means that peo-ple will have to leave the city in orderto develop professionally.

in 2050?

your city in 2050?

FUTURO • ©© JOSÉ MARÍA GAMERRO CERRADA

your city

205 0V I S I ONSau

tum

n 2

008

· citie

s

48

Lin Huyan(expectant mother) Sanya, China

With more people and more informa-tion, noisier, much more commercialand certainly more polluted. Theprices of houses will rise, as will theheights of the buildings. In the futurethere will be more movement of peo-ple; people from here will go and liveelsewhere and those from otherplaces will come to live in our city.

David Farias(father of 1 daughter) The Hague, HollandI imagine a totally automated city, in-undated with media and technology.A city with more people, but withfaster and more efficient transportsystems. Cleaner, better organised,more “sustainable”.

Candelaria Cesar(29 years old) Barcelona, Spain

I imagine my city grey, with lots ofsmog, people will have more illness-es. The city will be full of cement,they will get rid of the parks and thepavement cafes won’t have earth onthe ground, but stone.Cars won’t usepetrol, but will run on recycled fuelssuch as oil.

Carlos Andrés Castro(32 years old) Bogotá, Colombia

I imagine a city with very strict envi-ronmental controls, which prioritis-es water and energy management inorder to provide for an enormousand growing population. Solar andwind power will be used to provideenergy for travel, buildings will be re-cycled and architecture restored.

David Kun(father of 1 daughter) Budapest, Hun-

garyThere are two possible extremes: onthe positive side, there will be recy-cling, use of photo cells, the water sys-tems will be properly managed, etc.On the negative side, the city will bedesertified due to our not having un-derstood in time that the vision ofsustainability is the only option wehave left. Which will we leave to ourchildren?

Juan Camilo Bernate(29 years old) Bogotá, Colombia

My city will be friendly and quiet;walking around the streets will be apleasure rather than a punishmentand human beings will be more im-portant than vehicles.Dealings withthe local government will be trans-parent and efficient and will be thekey to development by responding towhat people actually need.

Ana María Brigard(32 years old) Barcelona, Spain

I imagine a city with more modernsystems for water treatment, wherethe main source of water will be thatthat has been treated and recirculat-ed, instead of collected from rivers,rain or reservoirs.

Alejandra Reyes(32 years old) Bogotá, Colombia

A greener environment in the city,more trees and more flowers in pub-lic spaces. Safety in the city is at 80%and violent conflicts will have re-duced by 60% over the past ten years.And the most important thing is thatcollective interests take priority overindividuals.

Yang Fen(26 years old) Sanya, China

It will still be a small city, comparedwith other cities in China which havepopulations of 20 million. There are510,000 people in Sanya at the mo-ment. Tourism will grow, likewisework and the economy. Pollution willbe a problem solved by the govern-ment.

CALE N DAR

x2008/09CALENDARHere we highlight some international conferences

related to cities and sustainability

OCTOBER

5-14 IUCN WORLD CONSERVATION CONGRESSMore than 8,000 of the world’s leading decision makers insustainable development will meet in Barcelona for ten days todebate and share ideas, actions and solutions for a moresustainable world. Centro de Convenciones Internacional deBarcelona (CCIB) cms.iucn.org

15-17 EMSU 08. A NEW KNOWLEDGE CULTURE. UNIVERSITIESFACING GLOBAL CHANGES FOR SUSTAINABILITYThe fifth year of the international conference series onuniversities and sustainability. One of the Conference’s themesthis year is the role of the University in generating moresustainable urban systems. Based on reinforcing the role ofuniversities in addressing social and environmental challenges,this conference offers a new model for sustainable congresses,with a hybrid of virtual and on-site activities, some organised inthe eight countries where congress nodes have beenestablished. Technical University of Catalonia, AutonomousUniversity of Barcelona, RCE Barcelona

www.emsu.org

22-25 9TH WORLD CONGRESS OF METROPOLIS:CONNECTING CITIESWorld congress organised by the Metropolis Association withthe aim of bringing together and putting in touch the leaders ofthe largest cities in the world, as well as organisations whichwork within cities to address and find solutions to problems andto changes in the world’s big cities.Sydney, Australia

es.metropoliscongress2008.com

DECEMBER

7-9 INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON URBAN, REGIONALPLANNING AND TRANSPORTATION URPT'08 Bangkok, Thailand http://wahss.org

APRIL

22-24 SUE-MOT CONFERENCE 2009: SECOND INTERNATIONALCONFERENCE ON WHOLE LIFE URBAN SUSTAINABILITY AND ITS ASSESSMENTLoughborough, United Kingdom sue-mot.org/conference

NOVEMBER

3-7 FOURTH SESSION OF THE WORLD URBAN FORUM WUF4.HARMONIOUS URBANIZATION: THE CHALLENGE OFBALANCED TERRITORIAL DEVELOPMENT. Nanjing, ChinaAccording to ancient Chinese philosophy, harmony impliesmoderation and balance in all things. The World Urban Forumwas established by the United Nations to examine one of themost urgent problems being faced by the world today: rapidurbanization and its impact on communities, cities, economiesand politics. Non-governmental organisations, communityorganisations, urban professionals, researchers and teachers,governments, local authorities and national and international localgovernment associations participate in this biennial meeting.- Socially harmonious cities: equity, inclusiveness, povertyreduction, land and social housing.

- Economically harmonious cities: infrastructure development,financing urban development, foreign investment, urbaninformal economy.

- Environmentally harmonious cities: climate change; energyand resources saving; biodiversity; water, sanitation andtransport; green buildings.

- Spatially harmonious cities: urban planning, urban and rurallinkage, integrated regional development.

- Historically harmonious cities: heritage, culture, architecture,urban renewal

- Harmonious cities for all age groups: youth, aging population,Internet and ICT, education and health care, sports and music

www.wuf4.com

JANUARY

29-30 INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON WATER EFFICIENCY IN URBAN AREAS Würzburg, Germany www.otti.de

JUNE

14-18 ICLEI WORLD CONGRESS 2009Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

www.iclei.org/worldcongress2009

General website showing upcoming international conferences oncities www.conferencealerts.com/urban.htm

ANTENNENWALD SUNSET • ©© CHRISTIAN KADLUBA

Educatio

n an

d S

ustain

ability

49

autu

mn 2

008

· citie

s

50

WE RECOMMEND

La ciudad conquistadaJordi BorjaAlianza Editorial (2003). Cat, Spa. Jordi Borja suggests different for -ms, strategies and critical debatesfor urban intervention and in no va -

tion within a global dimension and not as a mosaicof dissociated spaces. He tackles the most profoundsociological and political aspects: the city with itsfears and fractures, but also with its challenges andthe responses made to them. Likewise he sets outpresent and future options for citizenship within aglobalised world, the needs of political innovationand our possible horizon of rights. The conqueredcity is not an object but rather an objective.

The Art of City MakingCharles LandryEarthscan (2006). Eng.

City-making is an art, not aformula. The skills required to re-enchant the city are far wider than

the conventional ones like architecture, en gi ne eri ngand land-use planning. Following the wi des preadsuccess of The creative city, this new book, aided byinternational case studies, explains how to reassessurban potential to adapt to the changing globalterms of trade and mass migration.

Ecología urbana Jaume TerradasRubes Editorial (2001). Cat, Spa.Urban ecology considers that thecity is a living environment and isas such an ecosystem in itself. The

book therefore looks at the urban phenomenonfrom a scientific perspective, focusing on the studyof the processes and flows that hold together thecity’s metabolism. Lastly, the author explains thefoundations that the city of the future will be builtupon and formulates the ecological criteria for themanagement of major cities.

CitiesJeremy SeabrookIntermón Oxfam Edicions (2007)Cat, Spa, Eng.Jeremy Seabrook opens our eyesto reality, to the time bomb thatis ticking in the major cities of

poor countries: Karachi, Cairo, Nairobi, Jakarta,São Paulo, Caracas, Lagos and Lima. The authorcombines portraits of urban life with a wideranalysis of contemporary global capitalism.

Sociedades movedizasPasos hacia una antropologíade las calles

Manuel DelgadoEditorial Anagrama (2007). Spa.

Continuing with the deep immersion into thestudy of public spaces started by El AnimalPúblico and Sociedades Movedizas, ManuelDelgado re-enters his research into the urbanlandscape. The author dis tinguishes between cityand urban aspects, with “urban” being understoodas every thing that can not be brought to a halt inthe city, that which is vis cous; the urban way of lifeis marked by the pro li feration of precarious, uns -table, lax and u ns tructured relationships.

A Convenient Truth:Urban Solutions fromCuritiba, BrazilMaria Vaz Photography, Del Bello Pictures52 minutes (2007). Eng, Port.This is an informative and inspira-

tional do cu men ta ry which focuses on innovation intransportation, recycling, social benefits, affordablehousing, sea so nal parks and other processes thattransformed Cu ritiba into one of the most liveablecities in the world.

ManufacturedLandscapes Jennifer Baichwal, Zeitgeist Films90 min. (2007). Eng, Port.

This film follows thephotographer Edward Burtynsky

on his journey thro ugh the urban landscapes ofChina. His photographs of factories, mines,quarries and dams ma ke an art form out of thematerials that we con sume and their wasteproducts. The film documents Chi na’s massiveindustrial revolution and invites us to meditateon our impact on the planet and witness bo th theepicentres of industrial endeavour and its waste.

En construcción José Luís Guerin125 minutes (2001). Spanish. The story of the transformation ofthe red light district of Barcelona,threatened by a refurbishmentplan; an apartment block starts to

be built. After three years of filming and the cons-truction of the building, José Luís Guerin shows ushow the mutation of the urban landscape alsoinvolves the mutation of the human landscape.

FILMS

BOOKS

4

4

4

4

4

4

4

4

4

Educatio

n an

d S

ustain

ability

51

E COLOG I CAL FOOTP R I N T

The following diagram shows the distribution ofthis magazine’s ecological footprint with geo-graphical references, from the processing ofrecycled fibres to obtain the paper to the maga-zine’s distribution and waste management on anational scale. It should be pointed out that the

printing process only takes up 2.8% of the asso-ciated footprint (this is done in Barcelona). Wecan therefore see that the main proportion ofthe impact generated by the magazine corres-ponds to the place of origin and pro cessing ofthe recycled paper.

The ecological footprint is an environmentalindicator that is defined as the area of ecologi-cally productive land (fields, meadows, forestsor aquatic ecosystems) needed to generate theresources used and to assimilate the waste andemissions produced by a certain product, servi-ce and/or population. The ecological footprintis expressed in hectares or any other indicatorof surface.

We are attempting to improve the process usedto come up with a more precise and up-to-datecalculation of the footprint for each issue of thema gazine. This process is constantly under co -ns truction and this time we have taken a total of14 processes into account (see diagram).The final result is 6.48 m2 per copy and a totalof 25,934 m2 for the total 4,000 copies of thisissue.

Ecological footprint

Distribution of the ecological footprint

We have included We haven´t included

Obtaining rawmaterial (cellulose)and recycling

Obtaining raw materialfor complementaryproducts (ink, etc.)

Paper production

Production of ink,printing presses,cloths and wettingliquids

Editing, translation,linguistic correction

Printing and binding Design and layout

Transportation of rawmaterials, waste andthe final product.

Waste water producedduring the productioncycle

AObtaining raw

material – post-con-sumer paper (Germany,Sweden, Norway and

Denmark).14,02%

GPrintingservice

(Barcelona).2,80%

JWaste

management(Catalonia).2,18% K.1

Transportationof paper fromDenmark toBarcelona.14,1%

K.2Transportation ofcomplementary materials from

within Catalonia toBarcelona.0,0001%

K.4Distribution of

the magazine (fromBarcelona to Catalonia,Spain and abroad).

7,3%

K.3Transportationof waste fromBarcelona toCatalonia.0,28%

BPaper

production at theplant (Odense,Denmark). 58,25%

EProduction ofpresses, inks,

plastic, wetting liquidsand developing(Catalonia).0,038%

CProductionwaste (Den -mark). Not available. D

Obtainingcomplementary rawmaterials (Cata -

lonia). Not available.

HWriting, editing,

design and layout ofthe magazine(Barcelona).Not available.

FProductionwaste (Cata -lonia).Not available.

IFinishing the

magazine: staplingand folding(Rubí). Notavailable.

Sources: El Tinter, SAL; Ecological Footprint Network – Ca-nada; IDESCAT; Digital footprint of EUPM; University ofMassachussets Amherst, USA; The Paper Re search IndustryAssociation; Dalum Papir A/S Denmark, Ljubiljana DigitalMedia Lab-Croatia; KHT Institutionen för Energiteknik, Sue-cia; ECODESIGN Company, En ginee ring and ManagementConsultancy GMBH; Ferey, Guillaume.

Consultancy: Jaume Enciso, environmental consultant

Resource UseTotal calculation for all copies

Nº Copies Pages Footprint(m2)

Waste(kg)

Water (litres)

Electricidad(kWh)

Emissions(kg CO2)

Raw mate-rials (kg)

1 2000 48 10.664,00 100,70 3.944,11 1.751,87 786,55 559,64

2 3000 56 19.503,00 168,62 6.864,4 3.048,98 1.357,14 974,00

3 4000 54 25.934,00 214,49 8.836,46 3.924,92 1.742,46 1.253,82

ECOLOGICAL RUCKSACK

Calculation for each copy

Nº Copies Pages Footprint(m2)

Waste(kg)

Water (litres)

Electricity(kWh)

Emissions(kg CO2)

Raw mate-rials (kg)

1 2000 48 5,332 0,050 1,890 0,840 0,380 0,27982

2 3000 56 6,501 0,056 1,972 0,876 0,452 0,325

3 4000 54 6,484 0,054 2,209 0,981 0,436 0,313

4 4000 54 6,484 0,054 2,209 0,981 0,436 0,313

ECOLOGICAL RUCKSACK

If you wish to make any comments or suggestions, or would like to get involved with the magazine, please contact us at es@rce-barcelona.net

EduSost.cat

METROPOLIS • ©© GRAFFITI BY SUBPLO

T / PHOTO BY WITNESS_1, SOUTH AUSTRALIA