[MUSIC] Hi, my name is Jennifer Lenhart, and I am doing a PhD in Amsterdam, in the Netherlands at Wageningen University. My PhD is on cities and climate change. specifically, how local governments address climate change. My focus is really on local governments. I used different case studies from Northern Europe, in particular focusing on Sweden, and the Netherlands. Malmö is a city that still is a huge inspiration for me personally, professionally, and now academically. Well, a lot of times we think about what an individual should do, or can do to help address environmental issues. And this is important because, our individual choices on what we decide to purchase, how we furnish our homes, what we do with energy, whether we turn off the lights etc., how warm we keep our houses - these are all really important. But a lot of things are already embedded in the urban infrastructure. For example, does your city have access to good public transport, whether it be trains or buses? How frequent do they come? Do you have access to good cycling infrastructure? How do you move around in your city, do you need a car, or can you live a car-free lifestyle? Additionally, what kind of strategies does your city invest in for waste management? Do you have good access to recycling facilities, down around the corner, or do you have to drive your recyclables very far away? And then it's questionable whether or not one activity, or the other is better for the environment. Of course, energy efficiency in buildings is hugely important. Do you live in a house, where you have to keep the thermostat up because it's really cold in the winter, or does your house already keep itself warm by being well-insulated? Same thing for the summer, depending on where you're living. There are many different factors I should say, that influence someone's behavior. One of them for example, is your experiences. Are you used to taking the bus, are you used to driving a bicycle for example? Another one is what we call social norms. So, we look to our peers, we look to our culture, we look to our friends in terms of how to act and react. If in a society most people are wearing helmets, you're more likely to wear a helmet on the bicycle. You're more likely to buy a ticket for the bus, or the train, if everyone else around you is doing that. Or to wait - I saw this myself this morning when I was walking across the street, no cars were coming but I waited, because everyone around me was waiting before they crossed the street. So, norms are really important, as well. Another thing is demographics. Women tend to be, [as shown] from many different studies, more environmentally friendly. And the important thing of knowing this is not that we have to fulfill stereotypes, but then we know, when we communicate with people, how we then would approach them. One other thing, that I think is hugely important, is convenience and safety. Do you feel safe taking the bus at night? Do you feel safe walking or cycling at night? A city or a local authority's procurement policies are incredibly important because they are a large organisation, and they can help steer procurement. So, for example, whether they decide to purchase renewable energy, or they decide to purchase fair trade products or ecological food. Well, this can be a variety of things. For example, the city or local government might fund a particular program, they might offer trainings, or they might work on communication strategies. A few of my favorites are in some of the Latin American cities. For example, in Bogotá and Medellin where they have these cycling Sundays, and they close large portions of the cities off, and bring people out in the streets to cycle, or to practice yoga, or to walk. And just interact with a public space, in a different way than they normally would by driving on it. Malmö in Sweden had a fantastic strategy, called 'No Ridiculous Car Journeys', where they basically, made fun of people driving short distances [by car]. They wear bright colors, orange, with shiny silver helmets and they drove around the city. They had music concerts, and they really displayed how much easier it is to cycle in the city. So, a lot of these [initiatives] are really about enabling a certain type of behavior. The city and a local authority has a lot of ability to help people, adopt a certain type of behavior. In Scandinavia, especially in cities like Malmö, Lund, and Copenhagen, you have excellent cycling infrastructure. The city is making sure that there are good accessible bike lanes, but it's not just about bike lanes, it's also all the other infrastructure. For example, good air pumps, good safe places just to park your bike or to fix your bike. And, in all of these cities, they are looking at the big picture of how this particular behavior is enacted, and provide infrastructure the whole way through. Mostly cities don't like to use regulation. They're trying to enable a particular behavior, but sometimes it is a very effective strategy. For example, the cities of Stockholm and London have adopted congestion charges to limit car driving in the centers of the city. In the beginning, this met with lots of critic. But in both cities have now really improved because of this. Both [cities have] limited [car] driving and improved air quality. Cities like Basel actually require green roofs on all new buildings. And in Barcelona, they work with trying to increase solar panels, by regulating them on new buildings. Cities more and more work with partnerships, so one of the best examples of a large scale program on this is Rotterdam Climate Initiative. And this is between the local authority, several of the businesses - large scale businesses, the Rotterdam Port, and also some national authorities. Together they are trying to address climate change - both mitigation and adaptation, across the city. On a smaller scale, cities are also working with citizens. For example, in urban agricultural policies, this is being done in cities like Malmö or Amsterdam, where the local authority might provide certain things like funding or land, and then citizens are using this to help green the city, while also working with food policies. Well, in terms of infrastructure provision, local authorities are important in terms of planning a city, in planning the different spaces. Increasingly though, you have energy companies, which play a very important role in terms of what energy is accessible in a city. You have housing authorities, developers, and architects that are that are influencing what kind of buildings we're living in. But citizens are also important. Both in terms of their individual choices but to keep these different actors accountable, to promote and push for better cycling infrastructure, or better green spaces, or better energy policies. So, collectively they can all work together. Now this doesn't always happen, but if it does we can help create cities that really are increasingly more sustainable. Well, there are a lot of different strategies out there, that look to how to promote a certain, sort of 'sustainable behavior'. One of them that I have come across, is called 'Community based social marketing'. It has many different parts, and I can't explain them all here, but one of the most important ones is to look at barriers - perceived barriers, and why people would not want it partake in a particular type of activity. So for example, taking the bus. Why do people not want to take the bus? Many people think it's not clean, it's expensive, it takes too much time, etc. But if you can shift where those barriers actually are, and you can say: actually it's not that expensive, you can use the time on the bus to do other activities. You can show them, when it comes, how frequent it comes. You can help to slowly, shift the behavior towards something more sustainable. Now there are a lot of different parts of that, so that's the first part of it. Another very important part, is to look at the difference audiences. Many times, we create a message for everyone. But if you can have the chance to really target your message to either youth, or to a particular neighborhood, or a particular group in society then you can help people connect closer to the issue. Looking at local leaders is also really important. So maybe someone, who stands out in the neighborhood, who can help you promote a certain activity. This will get more people on board on the particular behavior, and help to shift individuals, but also neighborhoods, towards a more sustainable urban lifestyle. [MUSIC]
