City-Level Decoupling-Full Report

City-Level Decoupling: Urban resource flows and the governance of infrastructure transitions

environmental benefits. The Buenos Aires Metropolitan Area ( Área metropolitan de Buenos Aires , AMBA) ProHuerta technical team now services most of the city, coordinating a network of 1876 promoters consisting mainly of volunteers and teachers. It works with over 200 organizations and institutions to deliver inputs and provide technical support and training, and 323,559 people are now producing food under the program as a network of 50,362 urban gardens and 1048 small farms (providing chickens and rabbits). While the program was initially intended to address the food crisis and malnutrition among the city’s poor, bartering and trading at community fairs has provided an additional benefit in the form of strengthened social cohesion in Greater Buenos Aires. Many of these food fairs are held more than once a week, trading mostly fruit and vegetables. The fairs have helped to stimulate local economies and have provided new employment opportunities for the poor. In some cases, municipalities have recognised the value of these fairs and have dedicated municipal land for use as market places. A conventional approach to the provision of energy services could not have offered the sustainable development benefits of the Kuyasa project in Cape Town. The use of energy-efficient light bulbs, insulated ceilings and solar water heaters has reduced household electricity requirements, and thus the CO 2 emissions and climate impact associated with daily life. Households save on the cost of energy services, while enjoying the health benefits of an insulated home. The community’s involvement in the installation and maintenance of this infrasructure has developed skills and provided sustainable employment opportunities to Kuyasa residents, rather than the usual outsourced install- and-go' approach. As a clean development mechanism (CDM) project, income can be derived from the sale of carbon reduction certificates to expand installations and employ local residents to maintain the solar water heaters on a long-term basis. As with other CDM projects, the Kuyusa project is required to produce quarterly monitoring reports by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

over 80 distribution points around the city. Currently, 4 kg of recyclable materials can be traded for one kg of locally cultivated seasonal produce, improving access to healthy food for the poor while tidying up the city. Community groups often play an active and sometimes informal role as intermediaries. 'Socialisation of solid waste management', the term used in Vietnam, indicates the active participation of community groups, cooperatives and independent collectors in managing urban solid waste systems. Syndicates of individual collectors play a critical role in managing the informal system, with collectors participating on a voluntary basis. To become a syndicate member, a collector submits an application and pays a monthly fee for use of the depot, general administration, and cost recovery that is transferred to the public waste agency. The syndicates expand collection services by engaging with local authorities to determine the areas that require additional services, and by quickly mobilizing members to cover those areas once they gain permission from the authority. The syndicates also handle problems and conflicts that arise in the collection processes. Ho Chi Minh City’s 3,000 independent collectors are well suited to collecting waste from the narrow streets where vehicles are unable to drive. By using low-skilled workers instead of expensive machinery to collect waste, this community- based system shows that waste collection can improve urban liveability and sustainability with fewer resources and less impact on the environment. The sustainability contributions resulting from retrofitting infrastructure networks are both quantitative and qualitative. For example, ProHuerta’s approach to food self- sufficiency offered an ideal solution to the 2001 food crisis for the city of Buenos Aires, particularly in the poor areas where the effects were most harshly felt. Local production of fresh fruit and vegetables helped to address issues of malnutrition among the poor whils indirectly providing economic, social and 6.6.3. Responses and outcomes

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