Cities are major contributors to climate change: Overall, the built environment is responsible for nearly 40 per cent of CO2 emissions, 60 per cent of global resource use and 50 per cent of waste, leading to severe ecological damage such as pollution and biodiversity loss. At the same time, cities are the places where the impacts of climate change are most severely felt and where people face the greatest socio-economic disparities. Addressing growing inequality and the climate crisis requires a systemic transformation of the built environment. The concept of regenerative development offers a paradigm shift for the way our cities are designed and built. It aims to improve both human and planetary health through a holistic approach that integrates ecological restoration, social equity, and economic vitality.
This webinar will present findings from a series of workshops in Cape Town convened by the Western Cape Economic Development Partnership (EDP), the African Centre for Cities (ACC) and Bauhaus Earth. In these workshops, stakeholders representing many sectors – from city government to developers to grassroots organisations – worked together with built environment and economic development experts to refine the vision of a regenerative built environment and explore strategies for initiating a stakeholder-led transition in Cape Town and the Western Cape.
The webinar will accompany the launch of our new ‘Changemaker’s Guide‘, a resource which provides a comprehensive guide to the transformation of the built environment. It includes inspiring case studies and practical knowledge to drive systemic change in your city.