15/6/2007
Margot Wallström, Vice President of the European Union Responsible for Institutional Relations and Communication Strategy: Sustainable Cities – Innovation for Life Lessons from the past - Challenges of the Future. Green Week, Brussels 12 June 2007

Thank you for inviting me to this year's Green Week. We are expected to deal with lessons from the past and challenges for the future. I would like to contribute with a story and a vision. The story is about Mesa Verde in Arizona and the Pueblo Indian tribe.

Mesa Verde is a high plateau with a huge rock wall rising nearly two thousand feet from the valley below. Over million of years, wind and water carved out huge alcoves in the wall. We don't know for sure when humans started to live there. But we know that about 750 AD the Pueblo Indians began building surprisingly compact villages in these alcoves. Their buildings were advanced stone masonry with several stories and the villages also had intricate water systems.

It is believed that the thriving population of Mesa Verde may have reached several thousands. Today it would be the equivalent of a city the size of London.

Imagine the rich plains of the plateau. Perfect for farming and hunting and the sheltered living quarters below in the cliff – with a magnificent view. It must have been a truly beautiful and safe place to live.

But by 1300 Mesa Verde was suddenly deserted by the Pueblo. There are several theories as for why, but the most probable and fascinating is the following. The last quarter of the 13th century was a time of great drought and crop failure. And after hundreds of years of intense use, the surrounding land and its resources were depleted. No crops, no game, no wood and no way to survive the long cold winters... Under such great environmental stress, social and political problems developed and made the situation even worse – the people of Mesa Verde were forced to abandon their cliff palaces and migrate south into New Mexico.

Does this sound familiar?

Ladies and Gentlemen, It seems to be the most difficult thing for us humans, to learn from the past and factor in the future. It seems rather that when we do change, it is because the present forces us to do so.

And that is where we find ourselves – forced to change. We have reached the tipping point in so many areas. Take the climate and our biodiversity. As we heard from President Barroso our achievements are indeed great, but the challenges are even greater.

We need a shared vision that can capture the complexity of sustainable development. My vision has to do with cities.

Cities, we hate them and we love them. Every one has a favourite city, a square, a park, a bridge – a special place we dream about and want to go back to. My husband proposed to me on a boat going to Amsterdam…. and the au-pair will never forget that she crashed our old Toyota in Brussels.

The 21st century is undoubtedly the urban era. For the first time in history - this year - half of the world’s population live, work, fall in love, consume and pollute... in cities. In the EU 80% of all citizens already live in urban areas. And their quality of life and health is directly influenced by the state of the urban environment. Cities are responsible for about 75% of all CO2 emissions and consume about 75% of natural resources.

In addition, new data show us that in 90 years time, one third of the planet could be desert land. This desertification means that migration of people - environmental refugees - will accelerate and put even more pressure on cities. But, again, this is not all in a distant future. It is already happening in Africa, and to a certain degree in Australia and in southern parts of Europe.

So - the main challenges facing humanity such as public health, economic development, poverty, energy, resource depletion and environmental quality are urban based. And these challenges will continue to grow as the world’s cities grow. Each year 60 million people become new city dwellers. By 2050, some six billion people will be living in urban areas. Most of this growth is projected to occur in the developing world (as the western world already is urbanised).

I think it was the English anthropologist Desmond Morris who said that “The city is not a jungle of concrete, it’s a human zoo”... And the quest for a sustainable future will be lost or won in our urban areas.

My vision for Europe is to offer the most sustainable and child friendly cities in the world. Focus on children because they are our future. And I am convinced that growth of the city not only is a problem, but that it also can offer great opportunities.

I have three points to argue my case.

First, as city growth occurs and urban issues monopolize resources and attention, cities will probably play an expanding role in governance. This will probably pave the way for more local participatory democracy – simply making it easier for active citizenship and new forms of partnerships.

Second, with the rapid rate of urbanization, we must also keep in mind that over half of the urban areas in the world that will exist in 2030 do not exist now! This means that to a great extent the world’s cities are largely a blank canvas, yet to be painted, planned, designed and built. What an amazing chance, what an opportunity!

Third, cities are the world’s economic engines. They account for 80% of total economic growth. As centres of wealth generation, cities have the ability to generate vast amounts of financial capital that can be used as market drivers for sustainable technologies and services.

Just to give you one example, in the EU an investment of seven billion Euros to reduce air pollution would deliver benefits totalling 42 billion Euro - as a result of fewer premature deaths, fewer hospital admissions and improved labour productivity.

The environmental, social benefits and the economic scope for the concept of sustainable cities are huge. In short, to invest and innovate in sustainable cities - quality of life - is what I call a method for smart growth.

Ultimately, achieving urban sustainability will require far ranging social, political and technological innovation. Because building sustainable cities cannot be done by governments alone. Governments will need to mobilize citizens and business in new forms of partnerships and through new forms of governance.

Let us just reflect about this vision and how it could work as a catalyst for change. Just imagine, for a second, what would happen if all cities in Europe took a decision to go CO2 neutral... This is not just a dream I have – I am sure many of you share it with me... This is something we will be forced to do.

So if there are any lesson to be learned I think it might be that when the tough gets going we can't all emigrate to New Mexico like the Pueblo Indians... We are stuck in our human zoo – let's make it a CO2 neutral paradise...

Thank you.