Each city has its own personality

Dr. Husam AlWaer is an urbanist with a background in architecture, urban planning and sustainability

At the start of March, I’m producing an event that will help people in Dundee and Scotland consider new strategies to make cities more sustainable in environmental, socio-economic and cultural terms. Sustainability in a city can mean many things but within Europe there are many examples of where it’s done well.

I wanted to bring together four places with very different approaches to being sustainable, so that we here in Dundee and Scotland can learn from them.

To me, sustainability means being about place and its inhabitants: a great place to live, work, prosper and enjoy quality of life – now and in the future. That’s a successful sustainable city.

Bilbao, Copenhagen, Freiburg and Ljubljana are each great cities, but they have travelled very different routes and it’s those routes that are important to help inform the journey that Dundee is on. Each will have a different driver and objectives, depending on the citizens and the local assets they have.

The main thing they have in common is that whatever their main focus was – culture, green space, economy, transport – that initial driver always ends up affecting all the others. So it’s important to get that initial vision right.

For example, in Bilbao, Spain, their main impetus for the last 20 years has been culture, a factor which the city sees as an investment, not a cost.

But the cultural aspect then went on to have a huge impact on infrastructure, the tourism industry, and environmental considerations. Bilbao reinvented itself from an almost abandoned city with a high proportion of poverty, to a city that is very successful for visitors and citizens. It has improved industry, transport links.

People there don’t believe the Guggenheim Museum has been the sole driver to the success of the city, but of course it is part of the reason why they became a powerful “global brand”.

Ljubljana is completely different from the rest as its main agenda was green space. It is a city that has beautifully preserved its historic centre and created one of the most extensive pedestrianpriority networks in Europe.

The city has a policy that there should be green space at least every 400m. That aim then started building a trust and faith between citizens and local government as the city became an attractive place to do business, work or live. The “brand” developed by a city is also important. Copenhagen marketed itself as a city that’s cultured, easy to cycle in, and walkable, which became attractive to people. They wanted to see the brand, to be part of it.

Freiburg in Germany is the fourth city to be coming to Dundee for the event. It’s a brilliant place for co-creation, sustainability education and creativity.

The city’s environmental credentials and quality of life have acted as a powerful attraction to businesses and workers, creating a virtuous circle of sustainable growth. The unique thing about Freiburg is how public transportation is at its heart. It’s properly integrated and they have encouraged people to make cars “invisible”. Now around 33% of residents rely on cars and 67% rely on public transport, which is a huge achievement.

At the event, we’ll give Scotland, through the Scottish Government chief architect, Ian Glizean, a chance to reply to the speakers. Regardless of the debates on the day, Dundee will have to come first in all our decisions. Visitors will flock to the city if we get it right and people will stay if we make the city liveable. The city is on its way but there’s still a lot to do and we have much to learn from Bilbao, Copenhagen, Freiburg and Ljubljana. For tickets, please visit: www. academyofurbanism.org.uk/ events/european-sustainable-cities