Everything you ever wanted to know about Sustainable Urban Developments

by Claire Iochum on 7 décembre 2010 / 220 visites

The WWF Symposium on Sustainable Urban Developments of November 16, 2010, allowed over 200 participants from 10 countries, among them politicians, administrators, architects, town planners, researchers, and corporate representatives, to meet in Geneva and share WWF experiences on sustainable urban developments.

Following presentations of One Planet Living (OPL) Sustainability Action Plans (SAP) of WWF focussing on Masdar (United Arab Emirates), Mata de Sesimbra (Portugal), Hammarby (Sweden), Lyon Confluence (France) and the project of « Les Communaux d’Ambilly » (Switzerland), Taoufik Souami, PhD in town planning and associate professor at the « Institut français d’urbanisme » in Paris proposed a synthesis of the major challenges facing construction of sustainable urban developments in Europe.

The WWF Symposium undoubtedly reached its goal of providing participants with operational elements and concrete methodological frameworks applicable to the construction of future OPL districts, which aim to drastically diminish our ecological footprint. It was also an occasion to reaffirm the specificity of the WWF OPL label linked to sustainable urban developments : fixed principles, quantifiable goals, means for implementation adapted to the project, 5, 10, and 15 year follow-up to evaluate the ecological footprint, as well as residents’ support with appropriate information on performances and individual best behaviour.