CITY BLUEPRINT: INDICATOR FOR THE SUSTAINABLE URBAN WATER CYCLE

Kees van Leeuwen and Annemarie van Wezel

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Background: UN Urbanization Prospects & Global Environmental Outlook

> 300 cities exceeding 1 million inhabitants, 21 mega cities (> 10 million people) 50% of humans live in cities, by 2030 this will be 60%

1.8 billion people with absolute water scarcity by 2025, two-thirds of world citizens could be subject to water stress.

3 million people (< 5 y) die from water-borne diseases; greatest single environmental cause of human sickness and death.

Agriculture > 70 percent of global water use

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Cities play starring role

Cities are key to protect and restore ecosystems outsize effect on water supplies reduce water consumption recycle wastewater restore adjacent watersheds improve engineering solutions for water supplies

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II Approaches

•  Water Footprints •  Urban Metabolism •  Ecosystem Services •  Indicators

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Water Footprints

Total water footprint (as % of max./capita) 67% consumption of agricultural goods, 31% consumption of industrial goods, 2% domestic water use

Water scarcity (total water footprint to total renewable water resources)

Water import dependency (ratio of external to total water footprint)

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Urban metabolism

HUMAN WELL-BEING & POVERTY REDUCTION

Basic material for a good life

Health

Good social relations

Security

Freedom of choice and action

DIRECT DRIVERS OF CHANGE Changes in local land use and cover

Species introduction or removal

Technology adaptation and use

External inputs (e.g. fertilizer use, pest control, and irrigation)

Harvest and resource consumption

Climate change

Natural, physical, and biological drivers (e.g. evolution, volcanoes)

INDIRECT DRIVERS OF CHANGE

Demographic

Economic (e.g., globalization, trade, market,and policy framework)

Sociopolitical (e.g., governance, legal and institutional framework)

Science and technology

Cultural and religious (e.g., beliefs, consumption choices)

ECOSYSTEM SERVICES Provisioning (e.g. food, water, fuel)

Regulating (e.g. climate regulation, flood and disease control)

Cultural (e.g. spiritual, recreational, cultural and educational benefits)

Supporting (e.g. primary production, nutrient cycling and soil formation)

LIFE ON EARTH - BIODIVERSITY

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Indicators

•  Sustainable society foundation •  C40 cities (Clinton initiative) •  UN Indicators of Sustainable development •  EEA: European Common Indicators •  Millennium Development Goals •  Sustainable Cities index (Australia and UK) •  European Green Cities Index (Siemens) •  etc.

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Preliminary conclusions

Water is a dominant material flux across (mega)cities

Scope: Indicators> ES>UM>WF

Data availability issues: simplicity matters

People matter, transparency, ease of calculation and communication City Blueprints

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City Blueprints

•  Quick scan to assess priorities •  Scale 0 (serious concern) to 10 (no concern) •  Quantitative or qualitative •  Expert panel scores •  Local or national level

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City Blueprint; example of Rotterdam

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Future use of city blueprint

PREDICTION (scenarios)

EVALUATION (actual situation)

ACTION (technologies)

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POLITICAL CONTEXT

•  Water scarcity will be priority next EU Presidency •  European Commissioner Potočnik plans 2012 as year of

water, and will present a Blueprint to safeguard Europe’s water resources.

•  Classical approach of EU legislation (directives and regulations) may not work as most of the challenges are in cities

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NEXT STEPS

We want to publish a next report on City Blueprints for approximately 10 European cities together with our partners (ARC, TRUST and industry) and present it to Commissioner Potočnik in 2012

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Cities covered in the European Green City Index (2009) and additional studies by Siemens.

1 Copenhagen 9 Brussels 17 Budapest 25 Istanbul

2 Stockholm 10 Paris 18 Lisbon 26 Zagreb

3 Oslo 11 London 19 Ljubljana 27 Belgrade

4 Vienna 12 Madrid 20 Bratislava 28 Bucharest

5 Amsterdam 13 Vilnius 21 Dublin 29 Sofia

6 Zurich 14 Rome 22 Athens 30 Kiev 7 Helsinki 15 Riga 23 Tallinn The Hague 8 Berlin 16 Warsaw 24 Prague Rotterdam Bremen Essen Frankfurt Hamburg Hannover Koln Leipzig Mannheim München Nürnberg Stuttgart