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Under the Paris Agreement, the Jakarta city government as non-state actor is preparing the Indonesia first longterm strategy at sub-national/province level through the Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) to achieve Jakarta’s target 2050. The strategy was developed based on the existing masterplan and future development plan. The article aims to...

For cities to meet the challenge of reaching carbon neutral by 2050, one option is to promote a renovation wave for buildings. A literature review of the initiatives, standards and regulations for energy savings and the renewable energy deployment in buildings in the EU, US and Asia shows the complexity of the effort, and the need to integrate...

Mitigation solutions are often evaluated in terms of costs and greenhouse gas reduction potentials, missing out on the consideration of direct effects on human well-being. Here, we systematically assess the mitigation potential of demand-side options categorized into avoid, shift and improve, and their human well-being links. We show that these...

Japan is shrinking. How are Japanese cities and towns adapting their policies to this new context? Local governments are struggling to identify suitable development models to address their smaller size, heavily relying on pro-growth responses seeking to halt and reverse population decline. They are tirelessly trying to lure urban migrants, increase...

This presentation examines the future challenges of shrinking cities. In particular, it focuses on Japanese shrinking cities, exploring how sustainability values are reshaping policies to tackle urban shrinkage. It concludes by questioning how can Japanese cities begin adapting now to the challenges ahead and which sustainable alternatives can help...

This presentation examines how Voluntary Local Reviews (VLRs) are supporting the localisation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It draws upon the analysis of VLR reports presented between 2018 and 2020 to argue that VLRs ease the implementation of the SDGs by fostering horizontal...

This presentation provides hands on guidance on how to conduct a Voluntary Local Review (VLR). It briefly discusses the history of the VLR movement, how conducting a VLR benefits cities, the challenges facing local governments, and the way forward based on the analysis of VLR reports presented between 2018 and 2020.

This lecture explores the current challenges facing shrinking cities. It explains the reasons driving the decline of cities worldwide as well as the currently implemented policy responses. It then assesses cases of cities in Japan and the USA to link theoretical debates with empirical evidences, to better understand how cities are adapting to...

This presentation introduces Voluntary Local Reviews (VLRs), tracing their history and development since 2018, when the local governments of Kitakyushu, New York, Shimokawa, and Toyama presented the first ever reviews of progress of the local implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at the High-Level Political Forum (HLPF) in New...

This paper explores synergies between climate action and Voluntary Local Reviews (VLRs)—an instrument to localise the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development used by regional and local governments to report and monitor their progress towards attaining the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This paper argues that fighting climate change and...