City-Level Decoupling-Full Report

1 Introduction

possible to decouple urban development and rising rates of resource consumption, in other words resource decoupling. These trends are generated by factors that combine in unique ways in each context, including market forces, policy-driven action by various stakeholders, and both top-down state-centric and bottom- up local modes of governance. These trends also show regional differences in the ways in which sustainable resource use challenges are being approached. The magnitude of the challenges calls for approaches that encourage continuous learning, improvement and tapping into the resources that are available to bring about change. These can lead to an ' energetic society' 2 that recognizes, catalyses, supports, extends, trusts and reproduces the myriad of initiatives that bubble up from below as coalitions of households, communities, businesses and networks respond to the problems posed by unsustainable resource use and environmental degradation. This shift goes beyond the familiar call to 'do more with less'; cities also need to aspire to do more with more renewable and sustainable resources that will need to replace unsustainably used resources. This celebration of potential is becoming possible in cities that either provide spaces for creativity and innovation, or impose from above a new set of performance requirements that force those involved to break away from tried, tested and tired approaches to development.

This report applies the International Resource Panel report, Decoupling Resource Use and Environmental Impacts from Economic Growth (henceforth the Decoupling Report ) to cities. The core argument of the Decoupling Report was that a transition to a green economy will depend on finding ways to sustain economic growth rates without escalating rates of resource use. To achieve this decoupling, appropriate sustainability-oriented innovation will need to be initiated, promoted and applied on a large scale. most resource consumption takes place, the pressures and potentials to find ways to reconcile economic growth, well-being and the sustainable use of natural resources will be greatest in cities. Indeed, many significant sustainability-oriented innovations are already being applied at scale in cities throughout the world. This should not be surprising because cities connect a wide range of actors, networks, infrastructures, resource flows, cultures, social processes, and histories within specific biophysical and ecological contexts. Spurred on by a wide range of socio-economic and ecological threats, cities provide fertile ground for innovation and creativity. As Hajer put it: “Cities are crystallisation points within society – important entities within which people live, work and travel. … Cities create cohesion and synergy between individuals and businesses. It is in cities that inspiration is found for innovation, renewal and new levels of comfort.” 1 Because the majority of the world’s population now live in cities and because cities are where

The report proceeds from the following points of departure:

• Global economic production and consumption is now concentrated in cities: 80% of global GDP is now produced in

The report discusses some emerging trends within cities that demonstrate that it is

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