Category Environmental Issues
Smart Sustainable Districts – An EU initiative
Whilst the bruising battle between the Brexiteers and those wishing to remain in the EU fights itself out daily on our airways – the EU continues with much of its good work – largely unnoticed and unheralded – certainly in the UK. Not many of you will have heard of the Climate KIC programme from […]
Progress on Birmingham’s Green Commission Vision
Birmingham’s Green Commission launched its Carbon Road Map in November 2013 and prior to that its vision in March 2013. This post highlights a report and presentation that went to the Connectivity and Sustainability Overview and Scrutiny Commission in March 2015 about the progress so far and the priorities for 2015. The covering report, which is brief, can […]
Extra £22m Cycling Monies in Birmingham – What will it be buying
This is a straight lift from the Birmingham Newsroom site – but I think it is worth sharing as it is a major slice of monies being put to changing Birmingham’s mobility habits. Main Corridors (£15m) – About half of the funding would cover high-quality ‘flagship’ routes on five main corridors, with a high degree […]
How should Birmingham react to a Global Report on Climate Change
Has it happened to you? You realised you have missed an important document in your field? Well it happened to me when I was listening to Albert Bore giving his Brussels speech in October 2014 on how cities and regions can lead in the response to climate change. Now I don’t think this is a […]
EU OpenDays 2014 – 12th European week of Regions and Cities
Just got back from this annual event and thought I would briefly summarise my experiences and thoughts. Well the sessions are mainly about EU Structural funds or as they are generally known now as ESIF. The trouble was for this year we are right at the end of one period and right at the beginning […]
Innovation Districts: A new concept with applicability to Birmingham
I went to a really interesting talk recently in London given by Bruce Katz (@bruce_katz) from the Brookings Institute hosted by the Centre for London. He talked about his report ‘The Rise of Innovation Districts: A New Geography of Innovation in the USA co written with Julie Wagner (@wagnerjk). These Innovation Districts are urban centres where innovative […]
Cycling Copenhagen Style in Birmingham
This title is drawn from the recent press release (here) from Birmingham City Council outlining a new survey and reporting system to document peoples views on cycling in the city and progress in encouraging more of us to cycle on a biennial basis. It wants to emulate an approach put in place in Copenhagen – […]
Smart Spaces – Smart Energy Bills
I came across a press release from Birmingham City Council today with a podcast outlining its involvement in a project called SmartSpaces. This is of interest to me because it is about energy saving in public buildings and it is funded through Europe. For the specialists amongst you it is funded through the CIP ICT […]
Life and Death of Smart And Green Birmingham
Intriguing title eh? Well this blog post is all about the ambition of Birmingham to become a Smart Green City. We have heard much about this in the last year as we have had strategy, visions and roadmaps launched. The latest being the Carbon Road Map that I briefly reviewed here. We await the latest […]
Birmingham’s Carbon Road Map – launched – Well done Birmingham City Council
I haven’t got time to do a full review, but as it is a very important document for the City and it has come out today I have literally skim read it. (Download it here) It does look very promising. Whilst it is good to look at, ie up to coffee table standard it is […]
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