Austerity must not be barrier to a sustainable Manchester, debate hears
The ‘In Search of Sustainable Cities’ debate organised by the University of Salford’s Centre for Sustainable Urban and Regional Futures (SURF), heard from leading figures involved in business, communications, government and academia.
All of the panellists on the spoke about the impacts of austerity. Walter Menzies, an independent advisor on sustainable development, suggested that despite a decline in public sector resources, there is a chance for private and not for profit organisations to work together to deliver lower carbon emissions and social equality.
His views were echoed by Steve Connor, Chair of the Manchester Climate Change Steering Group and CEO of communications agency Creative Concern. Steve said that reduced public sector involvement also had created the need to bring more creativity to communicating climate change issues.
The debate, which was attended by international and Greater Manchester academics, business people and local government workers, was part of SURF’s involvement in the Mistra Urban Futures Centre, supported in Greater Manchester by the University of Salford and a network of local partners.
This global programme with partners in South Africa, Kenya and China, and led by Chalmers University in Sweden, is concerned with learning global lessons about how to make different urban areas more sustainable and create networks between practitioners and academics within the cities to deliver this vision.
The head of the Centre, Lars Reuterswärd, also attended the debate: “Already over three billion people live in urban areas,” he said. “But there is a different challenge in the north to the south. In Africa, cities are spread out and growing fast, but in places like Manchester they are re-shaping their economies and retrofitting their old structures.
Lars believes that cities need to be compact where possible so that transport, business and community centres are efficiently spaced.
He said: “The core of this project is ‘fair, green and dense’ and that is how we see the sustainable city of the future developing.”
Professor Tim May from SURF chaired the debate: “Academics working in these areas need to be better at communicating their work,” he said. “I think this debate shows how that can be accomplished.”
“We’ve pulled together people working in the region and internationally to discuss their experiences and issues and – as all the panellists agree – if we’re to keep sustainability on the agenda, then links like those formed tonight are essential.”
The full panel:
Mark Atherton, Director of Environment and Energy, Northwest Regional Development Agency
Steve Connor, Chair of Steering Group for Manchester: A Certain Future and CEO of Creative Concern
Lucy Danger, Executive Director, Emerge 3Rs
Walter Menzies, Independent Advisor on Sustainable Development
Anne Selby, CEO Wildlife Trust for Lancashire, Manchester and Merseyside and Greater Manchester Environment Commissioner
A timeline of tweets from the event can be found at www.twitter.com/SalfordScience
See more photos from the debate and keep up with all the latest science, technology and environment news at our dedicated Facebook site.
