Kyoto World Cities Challenge- Abstract

Despite the fact that the transport sector is responsible for at least half, often more, of all CO2 production in most cities of the world, there is no provision under the Kyoto Protocols to provide guidelines, mechanisms or incentives to attack these problems. Transport in cities was the "Empty Chair in Kyoto".

The Kyoto World Cities Challenge has been created as an open, collaborative sustainability mission with the support of the New Mobility Agenda of The Commons. The goal is to create a world wide platform of expert guidance and peer support for cities anywhere in the world wishing to address these problems, and in the process to help them move toward being "Kyoto Compliant" at a time when most cities are moving firmly in the opposite direction.

The three main pillars of this Open Society initiative are:

1. An aggressive program proposal for practical remedial action at the level of the city in a 20 month target period starting in 2005, supported by

2. A distinguished International Advisory Panel which brings together a high level group of recognized experts and leaders in the several fields being brought together here, and

3. A multi-level information and IP communications platform making state of the arts use of low cost high quality internet tools to knit the network and the interested cities together.

A quick word on this web site

What you find if you spend a bit of time here is that this little web site is not only the usual more or less static announcement of program and intentions, but -- or at least that is our intention -- a bit of a learning system that is intended to support your own work and efforts for sustainable cities. But learning of course takes a bit of time and patience, so if you are feeling rushed today . . .

In the event, what you learn here is not from any wise words that we may have written and then splayed before you, but rather from the several windows that we have tried to open on the world. There are, as you will see if you take a time, more than one.

One to us interesting example, is the collection of traffic cameras which allow you to click on hundreds of streets in cities around the world to see how they look right now. That has to be a creative experience for an open mind.

Likewise all the various interactive and sharing possibilities that you will find here. Whether it is something as straight-forward as the Kyoto Cities Essays and Comments, or the persistent nudges to push you to using more fully the very broad range of communications tools that are now at your disposal. What we can tell you about them -- and let's take just Skype IP phoning or SightSpeed video and voice conferencing as examples. Once you have factored them into your work habits, you will never go backward.