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In This Update:
The Austrian Model for Gender Mainstreaming in Vienna
Urban Planning Can Decrease Obesity in Cities
How Japan is Building its Silicon Valley
Nairobi Neighborhoods Reduce Crime by Cleaning Public Spaces
Chicago Public Housing Authority Invests in Public Libraries
What Elections in Turkey's Cities Will Say About Turkish Democracy
In the News and Around the Web
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The Austrian Model for Gender Mainstreaming in Vienna
As cities around the world are beginning to pursue gender mainstreaming in urban planning, The Guardian suggests that Vienna, Austria may provide an example for cities to follow. For over three decades, Vienna has implemented a series of gender-cognizant initiatives under the conviction that improving women's experiences in the city improves the experiences of all its residents. Initiatives include: installing more lighting to alleviate women's feelings of anxiety around safety, prioritizing public transport and pedestrian walkways given that women comprise 2/3 of transportation riders and pedestrians, and even giving women more visibility in Vienna by purposefully name all streets and public spaces after notable women in the Aspern neighborhood.
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Urban Planning Can Decrease Obesity in Cities
Research suggests that the health of a city's residents is determined less by healthy choices, than by what their urban environment enables them to do. National Geographic fellow Dan Buettner explains that the healthiest cities in the world - Okinawa, Japan; Sardinia Italy; Nicoya, Costa Rica; Ikaria, Greece; and Loma Linda, California- are not places where people proactively seek health and exercise. Instead, "physical activity just happens naturally as a result of their surroundings." For instance, in almost every case where cities are designed for pedestrians and cyclists, rather than cars, average BMI and obesity rate has dropped overall. Buettner says: "We have hard evidence that when you optimize a city for walkability, bikeability, public transportation, and cleaned-up parks, you can raise the physical activity level of a whole population up to 30%. There is no gym, CrossFit, or exercise program that can get those types of results at a population level."
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How Japan is Building its Silicon Valley
In Japan, Fukuoka mayor Sōichirō Takashima is projecting his city as Japan's own Silicon Valley. Despite Japan's large economy and international reputation for tech innovation, the country lacks the number of start-up companies that comprise hubs like San Francisco, Taipei, and Helsinki. Takashima is trying to change that, believing that successfully replicating the Silicon Valley model will help lift the Japan from decades of economic stagnation. He enthuses: "The presence of start-ups which create new innovation and value is necessary to break economic stagnation." So far, Takashima has succeeded in implementing his vision: Fukuoka has cut corporate taxes for new businesses, granted special visas for foreign entrepreneurs, and embrace exchange by hosting international business delegations and signing agreements with other start-up hubs
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Nairobi Neighborhoods Reduce Crime by Cleaning Public Spaces
In Nairobi, a new organization Komb Green Solutions is helping reduce crime in the Korogocho slum by cleaning up public spaces. Former gang members and former sex workers co-founded Komb Green Solutions two years ago to reduce crime-related deaths and engage youth away from criminal activities. So far, the organization successfully transformed Korogocho's People's Park from a dumping site for garbage, human waste, and a crime hotspot to a safe public space where well-kept grass, stone paths, and trees offer residents a popular place to meet and play.
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Chicago Public Housing Authority Invests in Public Libraries
In his tenure as Mayor of Chicago, Rahm Emanuel pursued a wide vision of improving public housing and city life: Chicago needed to not just make homes affordable, but also invest the decent transit, parks, stores, playgrounds and libraries key to healthy neighborhoods. Now, Chicago Housing Authority is partnering with Chicago Public Library system and private developers to co-locate public libraries with public housing projects. The idea is that branch libraries are "indispensable and bustling neighborhood centers and cultural incubators," that offer music lessons, employment advice, citizenship training, entrepreneurship classes, and English as a second-language. When one in three Chicago residents lack access to high-speed internet, computers and free broadband access in public libraries are key to connecting marginalized residents back to city resources.
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What Elections in Turkey's Cities Will Say About Turkish Democracy
Recent editorials point to the potential of cities and their municipal leadership to support democracy and internationalism on the global stage. At Brookings Senior Fellow Kemal Kirisci underscores the reverse in Turkey
: upcoming elections in its major cities, if fair, will play a crucial role in determining the political direction of the nation as a whole. Kirisci notes the struggle over Istanbul is especially significant, as it presents voters with a choice between marked populism, divisiveness, and anger or inclusiveness and positivity. As Turkish President Erdogan reportedly remarked in 1994 as the then mayor of Istanbul: "Who wins Istanbul wins Turkey."
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IHC Global Will Present at Side Panel at UN-Habitat Assembly in Nairobi
IHC Global will co-chair the side panel "Giving Voice: From Aspiration to Transformation: Gender Equality, Innovation, and Agenda 2030"
with Huairou Commission at the first UN-Habitat assembly in Nairobi at the end of the month. T
his side event will showcase innovative approaches to gender equality in cities, by focusing on social-movement engagement and new technologies, including IHC Global's Smart City Just City policy initiative which seeks to
advance inclusiveness and a better quality of life in cities and communities through technology.
Find the schedule of side events
here.
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In the News and Around the Web
- Green Gentrification in Boston : Pacific Standard Mag wonders if Boston Mayor Marty Walsh's climate resilience strategy will exacerbate inequality through "green gentrification."
- Rooftop Swimming at Notre Dame Cathedral? : To the chagrin of many, a Swedish architecture firm has proposed an unexpected restoration of Notre Dame Cathedral's roof: replace it with a swimming pool.
- Access to Safe Water Remains a Key Issue in America: Frequently, challenges to safe water, sanitation, and hygiene access are associated with the developing world. Catherine Flowers suggests that even in the United States, where 1.5 million people lack access to good plumbing, sanitation is still "treated like a privilege."
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A Swedish firm has proposed to install a pool on the roof of Notre Dame Cathedral
in the aftermath of last month's devastating fire.
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