Category: News from Asia & Australasia

EU-New Zealand IURC Kick-off Meeting

First Kick-off Meeting for IURC in Asia and Australasia The International Urban and Regional Cooperation (IURC) programme kicked off its first partnerships between European and New Zealand cities in an on-line meeting on 13 September 2021. Participants included the city coordinators from the participating cities: Lemvig, Denmark; Malaga and Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain; Vilnius, Lithuania; and Nelson, Christchurch and New Plymouth in...

Mumbai Climate Action Plan – Stakeholder Consultation on Sustainable Mobility

The Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM) as a part of the C40 Cities Network in collaboration with the Government of Maharashtra, WRI, Climate Voices and Waatavaran is developing the City’s first climate action plan - the Mumbai Climate Action Plan (MCAP). To achieve this, a series of stakeholder consultations are being conducted to seek feedback and recommendations from organisations...

The Journey of “New Green Possibilities” Is Only Beginning

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SfJ9bGuAyvs The goal of the “New Green Possibilities” International Forum was to look at the promotion of green public space from different angles. This is why it was divided into four talks to engage four different groups of urban stakeholders. We hope you recognise the role that each stakeholder plays in developing our living environment and the interrelations among them....

IURC cooperation in Bangkok for a greener city

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9T2oJXhZnwc As cities are responsible for a high level of energy consumption and around 70% of greenhouse gas emissions, sustainable urban development is a key component in the European Union’s efforts to realise the #EuropeanGreenDeal and become carbon neutral by 2050. In Bangkok, the EU Delegation to Thailand recently established a partnership with we!park through the International Urban and Regional...

Videos on climate change by Finnish and Japanese youth to be presented at COP26

When the cities of Nagano and Obuse in Japan and Turku in Finland were paired up for cooperation within the IUC programme in 2019, they were interested in tackling the issue of climate change. The Japanese cities had recently been hit by a typhoon and Turku had had experiences with unexpected flooding. The question they asked themselves was: How to...

How the private sector can contribute to more green public space

The Business Talk of the “New Green Possibilities” International Forum, organised on 30 July, marked a rare occasion where Thai corporations, particularly those in property development, came together to discuss their contributions to the promotion of green urban space and smart city solutions and offer suggestions for better regulations that could lead to better urban development. The Business Talk was...

Designing for better, greener living

The third session of the “New Green Possibilities” International Forum reiterates the importance of design and engineering to the improvement of quality of life. The Design Talk brought together speakers from five leading urban design firms from Europe and Asia and addressed common issues that many cities around the world are facing, such as climate change, air pollution, floods, lack...

Platform Talk: Platforms as a mediator for urban development

On 23 July 2021, the “New Green Possibilities” International Forum hosted its second session, the Platform Talk, bringing speakers from Rome, Milan, Penang and Bangkok to share their experiences as think tanks, or platforms, and as city government working with these organisations on urban development. The Platform Talk was the 2nd session of the “New Green Possibilities” series, which dealt...

IURC Asia & Australasia kicks off thematic webinar series with “New Green Possibilities” international forum to promote development of green urban space

The “New Green Possibilities” international forum kicked off on 19 July with the Policy Talk, inviting city officials from Hamburg, Rome, Seoul and Bangkok to share their “green city” experience. Five speakers participated in the talk, all highlighting citizen engagement as an essential process in urban development. The process is key to meeting the needs of the public and achieving...

Press Release: EU launches new urban cooperation programme in Thailand with “New Green Possibilities” forum, co-organised by we!park

In the context of the Bangkok Design Week 2021, the European Union has formed a partnership with we!park to organise the “New Green Possibilities” international online forum as an introduction of the EU-funded International Urban and Regional Cooperation (IURC) programme in Thailand. The forum will bring together an array of urban stakeholders from Bangkok and other Asian and European cities,...