The world is turning increasingly urban with more than 5 billion people projected to live in cities in 2030. More than 300 cities have already a population of more than 1 million and 20 megacities exceed 10 million. Urban landscapes everywhere are changing faster than we can understand the diverse forces that are conditioning these changes.Coinciding with the "Better city, better life" theme of the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai, Stockholm Resilience Centre launched the first version of the online platform Urban Planet.
A platform for sustainable urban development
The platform, which was presented at the Swedish pavilion virtual exhibition, provides an innovative and attractive learning environment with interactive statistics, maps, and best practices in the field of urban sustainability. It focuses on the the close connections between social and natural systems, and on the fundamental role ecosystem services play for human wellbeing.
- Urban Planet makes it possible for citizens, policy-makers and scientists to get involved early in the processes of creating a sustainable urban environment, says project leader Danil Lundback.
With case studies and real live illustrations from all over the world, the Urban Planet provides ways to involve different stakeholders in sustainable urban planning.
Urban Planet is a joint project of the centre, Albaeco and the Swedish International Centre of Education for Sustainable Development (SWEDESD).
Launch of upgraded version in October
An upgraded Urban Planet 2.0 will be launched 17 October at the World Expo, during a Future City Future Citizens´seminar.
During the seminar, Nobel Laureate Elinor Ostrom will give a lecture and discuss collaborative planning and sustaniable management with students from Stockholm (Globala gymnasiet), New York and a city in the developing world (to be confirmed).
The students will also present projects and scenarios on future development of their neighborhood and compare and compell them with each other.
