Preparing towns and cities for a changing climate

www.sustainablecities.org.uk cuts through the complexities of the climate change debate, to provide expert advice, clear priorities for action and describe good practice in sustainable urban design and management.

It has been created to support the people whose job is to make decisions about how to plan, design and manage towns and cities.

There are real challenges facing those responsible for reducing carbon emissions from the built environment, and adaptation to climate change. Every town and city needs to be managed as a complex system, which means taking a cross-cutting approach to issues and assets. The key priorities, like energy and waste, need to be addressed at the right scale. Action and funding has to be prioritised, and long term decisions taken in the face of short term pressures. And finally, the benefits of climate action need to be clearly communicated – from supporting economic and social resilience, through to creating better quality places.

So www.sustainablecities.org.uk  provides tailored, expert advice which is arranged around seven spatial scales, from individual building to regional. This structure is systematically linked with six critical sustainability themes – energy, waste, water, transport, green infrastructure and public space. It is designed to break down silos. You can see, for instance, how low-carbon and renewable energy technologies or transport will work across a neighbourhood.

Most importantly, this kind of integrated thinking will underpin decisions about where new homes, schools, healthcare, shops and employment should be located, and how regeneration should be planned and implemented.

www.sustainablecities.org.uk provides an invaluable knowledge base of examples of good practice from around the world, to help decide the right approach for your city, town, neighbourhood or site. One size never fits all when it comes to the built environment. But you can learn fast from the experience of others.

As the government’s advisor on architecture, urban design and public space, CABE is helping cities and towns to become more sustainable places. To create the web resource, we have drawn on the advice of 30 of the UK’s foremost built environment and sustainability experts. We also worked closely with England’s eight core cities, because their experience of regeneration is highly relevant when it comes to making places more sustainable, and more resilient to climate change.

You can sign up to a regular e-newsletter which alerts you to updates.

www.sustainablecities.org.uk