Session at the ICLEI World Congress // "Resource Efficient City"

Resource-efficient cities will gain competitive advantage in an era of shrinking global resources coupled with global and urban population growth. However, efficiency gains through urban density are thwarted by billions of people adopting resource-consumptive urban lifestyles. Cities, if wanting to be future-proof, need to go beyond minimizing the use of natural resources and become productive systems. Questions arising in this debate are, for example: How can local governments effectively deal with the challenge of maintaining sustainable supplies of key resources? And what are the synergies of an integrated management approach from which they can take advantage? The participants of this session will hear experts and local practitioners how resources such as water, energy and food can be managed more efficiently in urban areas. Having started the debate on the Resource Efficient City in discussions with the presenters and questions from the audience, panel discussion, participants will then have the opportunity to "Continue the Debate" over an extended coffee break with participants from other Agenda sessions.