Affordable and Accessible Green Cities: Recommendations and a roadmap for cities

This report identifies a series of barriers (see definitions in Appendix 2), which can prevent cities from addressing accessibility and affordability needs in their green actions/projects. As a summary of Chapter 2 on Promising Practices, Table 4 below shows which barriers each of the Promising Practices addressed. This table is intended to help cities identify which Promising Practice may be of interest to them considering their own specific context and given the barriers they may be facing.

Table 4: Promising Practices and the barriers they address

The route to Affordable and Accessible Green Cities has many obstacles, yet it is one that cities should take, wherever possible, notwithstanding the significant number of political, economic and other situational barriers they may face that have not been discussed here as they lie beyond the scope of this report. To overcome the obstacles they may face, cities should consider 2 main elements to this challenge:

1. The prerequisites to action
   • Committed leadership from public authorities.
   • Sufficient administrative capacity.
   • Prerequisites linked to the specific solutions for accessible and affordable green transitions.
2. The available solutions—trialled by UIA and URBACT cities or from other sources as part of the policy design process.

These points are elaborated on in the paragraphs that follow.

The following points address the accessibility and affordability aspects of green transitions, mindful of the needs of vulnerable groups:

Committed leadership from public authorities

Join up the vision

It is challenging to develop a project combining both social inclusion and energy transition concerns. Goals need to be well-defined, and policymakers must be committed to supporting the policy process as there will be hurdles. The goal needs vision, one that stresses the need that a green transition is essential and that to be successful it must include society’s vulnerable groups. Elected representatives could also take the lead and join an ambitious movement, led by people like the Mayor of Getafe, who makes the case of going beyond an idea of energy poverty to an idea of a ‘right to energy’, which would be a fundamental human right to affordable, reliable, renewable, and sustainable energy.

Link priorities and funding opportunities

All cities face human resource and financial constraints. Yet, the green transition is no longer an optional course of action. Extending the reach of policy to ensuring that no one is left behind has a cost and cities need to gear up, i.e., acquire the resources they need. While cities themselves must decide how they can best address their competing priorities, and act within their national contexts, their engagement may be a key factor in a successful Just Transition. Participation in EU programmes and initiatives can help cities to gear up (through capacity building, benchmarking, funding, etc.) (see ‘Pre-identifying challenges and issues’ below).

Limit any unexpected negative impacts caused by Just & Green policies

Improving the quality of life (e.g., nature-based solutions for climate-friendly urban planning, improving housing, new public transport services, going digital, etc.) might have negative impacts on some. There may even be direct benefits for some vulnerable groups (e.g., owners in the case of building renovations), but the same policy might also generate some displacement (e.g., of tenants unable to pay higher rents). Gentrification and ‘renoviction’ are a risk. Policymakers should be sufficiently aware of this and account for it in policy design.

Foster interdepartmental working

This report highlights the interconnections between several key Just Transitions policy areas (climate-friendly urban planning, sustainable energy, sustainable housing, sustainable mobility). In a Just Transitions’ perspective, cities should address these issues in an integrated way, which implies cross-departmental working and partnerships with stakeholders.

Use an agile methodology

The proposed solutions display creativity: in the methodology they use, the technologies, and in the cross-departmental and inclusive way the cities have chosen to work. The best laid plans rarely anticipate all contingencies so, in addition to committed leadership, cities need to use an agile methodology, i.e., based on projects and achieved through collaboration, if they are to be able to adjust to difficulties and overcome them, not least where the policies are experimental and risky.

Pre-identify challenges, issues, and benchmark for solutions

To an extent, projects can call on the experience of previous projects. Forward planning and benchmarking will be essential. There are many sources of policy inspiration within the European initiatives and programs, including but not limited to the Promising Practices discussed here under the UIA and URBACT initiative. Benchmarking for solutions and ideas is best practice and may require expert input. The main challenges will be related to technology, finance (including fiscal), legal, or human (resource, capacity, etc.) aspects. A risk mitigation strategy should also be put in place and updated throughout the project planning stage.

1. ‘Soft’ adaptation measures, including the following:

• Managerial (e.g., introduce flexible working hours work during heat waves).
• Strategic (e.g., commission new buildings with climate resilient design as part of planned urban building programme).
• Temporary (e.g., use shade to reduce temperature increases)

2. Technical/technology / ‘grey’ (e.g., refurbish buildings; enhance physical flood defences, increase capacity of sewage systems).
3. Ecological / ’green’ (e.g., creating or expanding green infrastructure for water runoff management or microclimate management initiatives).

Deploy of specialised human resources 

Considering the complexity of the challenges of designing and implementing Just Transitions projects, cities are likely to have to invest in capacity-building, training, together in some cases with ad hoc external assistance, including through project-oriented partnerships. The question of capacity applies from the outset and throughout project preparation, implementation, and project follow-up.

Consider digital solutions

Digitalisation is high on smart cities’ agendas due to its potential for increasing efficiency and for making services more user-friendly for users. Here again, cities should ensure that they do not increase the digital divide by neglecting vulnerable groups in communication, interactivity, and other digital uses.

Limit the risks

The solutions proposed in this report cover a range of technologies. Some are approved technologies (e.g., energy efficiency systems, digitalisation of data, etc.,). Some involve financial and legal aspects that may vary depending on the jurisdiction and that requirement for further study (e.g., cooperatives, renovations, circularity of buildings, etc.,). Cities should be aware of such complexities and limit any potential negative consequences.

Combine hard and soft solutions

All the proposed solutions combine hard (technical) and soft components (support to and engagement of vulnerable groups, behavioural change, economic and legal considerations etc). This complementarity gives a holistic approach to the project, its solutions, and its impacts in the city.

Reach out to, engage with, and support vulnerable groups

Vulnerable groups are the targets of the solutions. They should be involved in the process, even if top-down, to ensure that solutions match their needs. Vulnerable groups should also be included in co-creation and co-implementation processes, via grassroots mobilisation.

Table 5 below provides a summary of the different Promising Practices described in Chapter 2, their added value, their main lessons, and their replication potentials. Following the description of the barriers faced by each of these Promising Practices in Section 3.1, and the roadmap provided to cities in Section 3.2 of this report that are in their journey towards Just Transitions, the table below summarises the main learnings and added value of each of these projects. 

Table 5: Summary of Promising Practices