Hot off the press: Just transitions in 8 cities
A global research project explores human rights in the green transition
Today Institute for Human Rights and Business published the results of a two-year global research and visioning process on just transitions in the built environment, conducted with multiple partners including ICLEI and Building and Woodworkers International.
Working with local researchers, the project looked at the ways that efforts to reduce carbon emissions and strengthen climate resilience in eight cities are impacting human rights, particularly:
the right to housing
construction workers' rights
non-discrimination and spatial justice
and meaningful participation.
The eight cities are Athens, Copenhagen, Jakarta, Lagos, Lisbon, Melbourne, Prague, Valparaiso.
And it didn't stop there: in each city, workshops brought together stakeholders from across the built environment lifecycle - tenants’ and workers’ organizations, planners, investors, designers and builders - to co-create visions for the future of their built environment, wrestle with the obstacles to realizing those visions, and identify what needs to shift.
After all, decisions on what gets built (or not built) today have major implications for current and future generations.
Some takeaways!
In all cities there are risks that climate action is leaving people behind, which in turn generates resistance and push-back. And in each city there are opportunities for a focus on people's daily lives and aspirations to unlock more lasting progress.
There are systemic obstacles to overcome: like market short-termism and a narrow focus on growth; siloed thinking and action; weak social protections; and corruption.
However! The report provides clear ways forward for local and national governments and for investors to enable the realization of rights, foster effective collaboration, and steer finance in a more sustainable direction.
And innovation and new approaches to value are everywhere, which the project features on a global StoryMap (developed as a collaboration between IHRB and It’s Material).
The task ahead is to continue to expand the space for new economic framing, thinking and action in how the built environment is planned, financed, produced and maintained, and to continue building collective momentum behind this agenda.
Super proud to have got this project off the ground. And a huge shout-out to: Alejandra Rivera for keeping a very complex process in eight cities to a challenging timeline and lead-authoring the final report, to Giulio Ferrini for leading IHRB's growing built environment program, and to everyone else involved, including Kriz Gomez for her guidance on the visioning process, and the local researchers:
- Liam O’Farrell, Vicky Kaisidou and Dimitrios Tsomokos in Athens;
- Line Knudsen and Christine Lunde Rasmussen in Copenhagen;
- Dayinta Pinasthika in Jakarta;
- Oluwafemi Joshua Ojo in Lagos;
- Diana Soeiro in Lisbon;
- Joanna Tidy, Lucy Lyon, Natalie Galea, Judy Bush and Dan Hill in Melbourne;
- Michaela Pixová in Prague;
- Sebastian Smart, Rodrigo Caimangue and Belen Segura Mora in Valparaiso.
Explore the research findings here, and visit the StoryMap (where you can also propose your own additions).
And check out an op-ed by Giulio Ferrini in World Resource Institute’s “The City Fix”: Advancing Just Transitions in the Built Environment.