Green Cities for Eco-efficiency Erasmus University Rotterdam

Overview

What you will study

The unsustainable model of our cities, together with the advent of climate change, the shortage of fossil fuels and natural raw materials are forcing cities to rethink their way of planning and growth. In this context, cities are responding with arrays of options or levers at their disposal when it comes to the task of improving their overall environmental performance and eco-efficiency.

Key facts:

• The Green Cities for Eco-efficiency course offered by the Erasmus University Rotterdam provides a collection of concrete local solutions and policies cities in many countries are applying for integrating green concepts into their planning and managing processes. 
• You will be introduced to the IHS-Green City Concept Framework (IHS-GCCF) and the different approaches cities around the world are promoting to become greener. Such approaches include: increasing urban green areas; reducing energy consumption; promoting renewable energy and sustainable transportation systems; greening urban services by promoting energy efficiency and use renewable energy to deliver drinking water, wastewater, storm water and solid waste services; promoting eco-industrial parks; using new methods in urban agriculture (food security), focusing on green homes and green economics; using green growth tools to help cities become green cities.
• Green Cities for Eco-efficiency employs a wide variety of learning methods including lectures, group discussions, documentaries, field visits and group exercises. A number of sessions will be dedicated for participants to share their experiences from their respective countries. At the end of the course participants will apply their newly obtained knowledge to measure how much green a city is (measuring the actual city environmental performance) and using this result to create a green city action plan for a city of their choosing.