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Climate Change and Urban Design:
The latest advances on this urgent topic,
and how it will impact your profession.
 

 

   
Climate Change and Urban Design: 
The Lessons of European Urbanism

Uwe Brandes of the Urban Land Institute (center) discusses new research with Diana Urge-Vorsatz of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (center right) during a plenary session panel discussion.  Also part of the discussion were Terje Nypan of the Norwegian Ministry of the Environment (far right), Ray Gindroz of the Congress for the New Urbanism (second from left), and Michael Mehaffy, CEU Academic Chair (far left).

Read Report (PDF)


Join us for an exceptional gathering
of researchers and institutions from around the world, representing 30 countries from every continent except Antarctica.



New development in the old harbour area of Oslo (Tour 1)
 

Following successful Congresses in Berlin 2005 and Leeds 2006,
the Council for European Urbanism – C.E.U. -  will hold its third international congress in Oslo, Norway from the
14th to 16
th September 2008. 


The congress will discuss the rapidly-evolving topic of "Climate Change and Urban Design", and the latest implications in science, policy, education and best practice.
 
While our focus is on European place-making we will explore urban design examples from around the globe that offer opportunities to address critical climate change issues.

What is the latest science telling us? What are the consequences for urban development internationally?  What are the practical solutions available to reduce climate gas emissions from urban settlements and transport?  What strategies are available to adapt to changing conditions?

The C.E.U. congress will welcome government officials, planners, architects, social scientists, ecologists, developers, local community activists, and all other development stakeholders who feel a responsibility to contribute to more sustainable urban development.
 


The new opera building in the Oslo harbour,
Snøhetta Architects 2008  (Tour 1)
 

 
Neo-classicist social housing project built by the City of Oslo.
Torshov. 1917-25.  Architects Harald Hals & Adolf Jensen Talberg  (Tour  2)

Leading work will be presented and discussed from Europe, North America and elsewhere.  We will cover an extremely wide range of topics on mitigation and adaptation in urban design, spanning science, policy, education and best practice. 

Among topics discussed will be land use patterns; urban morphology, density and mixed use; transport modes; the relationship of urban space to agrictultural lands and wilderness; albedo and heat island effects; microclimate effects; economics incentives; pricing and trading; curriculum reform; evidence-based design; planning processes, coding and certification; and promising innovations from around the world.  We will consider the latest analytic and modelling research, together with the latest tools and other advances in policy and implementation.

WHAT YOU WILL GET:   

C.E.U. congress will provide you with important information and knowledge on the latest advances in science, policy, education and best practice, with a clear sense of the next steps - both individually and collectively. 
 
C.E.U. CONGRESS DECLARATION
The C.E.U. congress will convene to develop a final declaration on key issues and next steps. 
The C.E.U. declaration will build on our previous declarations in areas including sustainable urbanism and urbanist education to summarise conclusions conclusions from each of the four sessions, reflecting the latest conclusions and imperatives for action:

Science:  What we know
Policy: What we must do
Education: How we must develop and disseminate skills
Best Practice: How we must implement these conclusions

The C.E.U. declaration will seek to place urban design in the context of wider climate change issues, and the whole-systems approach that will be required to mitigate and adapt to this urgent challenge.

Who is the C.E.U. congress for?
 
The C.E.U. congress will welcome all urban development stake-holders from Europe and internationally, who feel a responsibility to contribute to more sustainable urban development, including government officials, planners, architects, social scientists, ecologists, developers, and local community activists


  All attendees are encouraged to                              
  to purchase carbon offsets for their travel.            
  See the Plan Your Trip To Oslo page for details  



Odd Fellow office building, downtown Oslo
1934, architects Blakstad & Munthe-Kaas. (Tour 1)




   


    
 
  
 
 

  


 

     DUCHY of CORNWALL

 
                      
  


 

   

 

 

 

    
Here is the CONFERENCE READER
- The Background Papers and Excerpts Selected Conference Papers
 
Download as PDF (14MB)

We hope these papers and excerpts will also offer useful links and connections to the growing body of work of others beyond the conference itself. The Council for European Urbanism is meant to be a meeting place of ideas and resources for urbanists of all disciplines and interests.
It seeks to promote greater collaboration and advancement of best practice, and the research, policy and education needed to advance it. In that spirit, this conference will be a success if it helps to catalyse more diverse international collaboration on the vital topic of climate change as it relates to urbanism.

 


PRINTABLE PDF DOCUMENT
WITH INFORMATION ABOUT
THE CONFERENCE


IN NORWEGIAN / PÅ NORSK
  


Oslo's main street, Karl Johans gate
Urban design 1750 and 1830-52 (Tour 1)

  
The four C.E.U.
congress themes:
 
 

Climate Change and Science:
What we know
 
What is the scientific evidence for or against particular links between urban form and contributions of greenhouse gases?  What are the interrelationships?  What are the pitfalls in research, and in its application?  Papers will survey previous literature and/or present new research.  We will explore the implications for further inter-disciplinary and inter-institutional research. 
 
 
Climate Change and Public Policy:
What we must do

What are the steps being taken to address the contribution of urban design on climate change through public policy, and how well are they succeeding?  What steps are being taken to mitigate initial diseconomies, create new incentives, ease regulatory restrictions, and shift market behaviour?  What new tools are available - codes, certifications, trading systems, incentives?
 
Climate Change and Education:
How we will disseminate the skills to do it
 
How should academic and other institutions respond to the climate change agenda?   How should design schools respond to the challenge?  What alternative curricula are implied or required?  How can curriculum reforms tie this agenda to wider social and environmental challenges?
 
Climate Change and Best Practice
in Urban Design:

How we will implement it
 
What are the implications of climate change research for new standards of best practice?  What does the evolving evidence suggest about the relative importance of such parameters as density, transit modes, mixed use, building height, social diversity, the relationship to agricultural lands and wilderness,  and others?  What about the relative benefits of retrofit versus new construction?  How can best practice address issues of market acceptance and consumer choice?  We will examine promising pilot projects from around the world, and evaluate their successes, weaknesses, and next steps in research and development.


Oslo City Hall 1920-1950, architects Arnstein Arneberg & Magnus Poulsson. (Tour 1)

 

The Nobel Peace Centre, former train station
1872, architect Georg Andreas Bull. (Tour 1)

Images from Oslo,
Go to this site to see the pictures
in a better resolution


Grünerløkka, an urban extension from1880-1890,
with the four-story apartment buildings typical for downtown Oslo.
(Tour 2)



Video: Audun Engh, chair of C.E.U. Norway, welcomes participants to the Congress in Oslo:  Link


Video: Michael Mehaffy, chair of the Academic Committee for the "Climate Change and Urban Design" Congress
, speaks on why the USA and other countries should forge alliances with Europe as a global leader on this issue:  Link

 


About C.E.U.
Council for
European Urbanism

   
Previous
C.E.U.
congresses

 

Sponsoring
organisations

Some of the participating
organisations

NGO's

IPPC - Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

 EEA- European Environmental Agency

UN-Habitat

CNU - Congress for
the New Urbanism

INTBAU

Wuppertal Institute
for Climate, Environment and Energy, Germany

Duchy of Cornwall, UK

Leibniz Institute
of Ecological
and Regional
Development

American Planning Association,

The Princes
Foundation for the 
Built E
nvironment,
UK

Netherlands Institute
of Spatial Research
   
Lincoln Institute
of Land Policy, US

Academy of Urbanism, UK

Urban Renaissance Institute, UK

Urban Land Institute

National Resources Defense Council, US
 
National Trust for
Historic Preservation, US

Oslo Byes Vel


  
Universities

University
of Oslo

NTNU - The Norwegian University of Science and Technology

  
Bauhaus University 
Weimar

Technical University
Berlin
 
Chualongkom
University, Thailand

Columbia University

Royal Institute of Technology,
Stockholm

Timisoara University, Romania

Universidad
Autonoma Baja California,
Mexico
 
University of
British Columbia
 
University College
London - Bartlett School

University
of Florence

University of
Hong Kong

University of Illinois

University IUAV
of Venice, Italy

Universidad
Politecnica de Madrid

University of Porto

University of Sumatra

University of Sydney

Victoria University
of Wellington, NZ

Virginia Polytechnic Institute

University of Miami

University of Notre Dame, US

University of Oregon

University of Havana


 
Government / municipalities

 

Riksantikvaren -
Norwegian Directorate
for Cultural Heritage

City of Oslo

London Borough
of Brent

City of Modesto,
California

City of Tshware,
South Africa

City of Gerbsen, Germany

City of Sundern, Germany
 

 City of Santa Fe

 

 

 
REGISTER NOW
FOR THE CONFERENCE:
 

Registration and payment page:

http://www.cityclimate.no/registration.html