Innovation

Innovation thrives when a group – formal or informal – of interested, dedicated and creative people focus on an issue and think ‘outside the box’. Often, such groups operate on the fringes of the day-to-day business structure. Innovation can be encouraged and facilitated by ensuring that such groups are supported by their institutions, and are allowed to establish links and to cooperate both within and outside their institutions. It is important that their ideas are given enough attention by decision-makers. It is also important to recognize that the lessons learned from failed innovations are as important as success in the learning process. When assessing the role of SCP and LA21 in the partner cities, the meeting participants must ask whether or not conditions for innovative thought and action are in place. Are the projects consciously selecting specific areas (e.g. urban planning, urban management, environmental management, urban governance, poverty reduction) on which to focus innovative efforts?

Environmental Planning and Management (EPM)

The Environmental Planning and Management approach of the Urban Environment section is about change: on the basis of tried and tested innovations, the EPM approach changes the way people think about urban development and environment, as well as changing the ways in which people and institutions behave. During the 2005 Global Meeting, participants will look beyond the SCP/LA21 process (Profile – Consultation – Working groups – Strategies and action plans – Institutionalisation) to the broader underlying EPM approach of Information – Decision-making – Implementation. During the meeting, EPM will be discussed as an innovative approach to address urban governance issues with the ultimate aim of reducing urban poverty.

Mainstreaming

The main theme of the 2005 Global Meeting will be ‘mainstreaming’ – how to ensure that innovative approaches to urban management are incorporated into the way that partner cities do business. To mainstream new ideas or ways of doing something, attitudes have to change, behaviour has to change, and structures have to change. This can be a prolonged and delicate process. Mainstreaming makes new practices permanent, building them into habits, procedures and routines. Mainstreaming has a significant impact on policies, processes, tools and mechanisms and generate a greater range of innovative potential solutions that would otherwise be the case.

Mainstreaming at various levels Mainstreaming at the local level

In mainstreaming EPM at the local level, the EPM approach, process and tools are integrated into the way local actors conduct their business every day. Programmes/projects activities should contribute to improvements in urban planning and environmental management. They should also contribute to significant improvements in aspects of poverty reduction, and to better local governance in general. Mainstreaming at the local level translates into changes in local policies, institutional arrangements and the relationship between different actors. Is this the case in your city? Is the EPM process in complementary with other approaches, or not?

Mainstreaming at the national level

When EPM is mainstreamed at national level, lessons of experience from local projects make an important contribution to the improvement of national policies related to urban development, environmental management (such as National Environmental Action Plans - NEAP) and influence poverty reduction interventions (such as Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers - PRSPs). In addition, lessons of experience from local projects can be used to improve support mechanisms from the central level to the local level (capacity building – finance – decentralisation etc.). A key way to mainstream EPM at the national level is by facilitating the dialogue between local actors (mainly but not exclusively local authorities) and national actors (mainly but not exclusively central government). National urban governance campaigns are one important mechanism through which these processes can be advanced. Such a dialogue improves national policies, and ensures that they are better known and understood at the local level. It also helps to identify efficient implementation mechanisms. What is the case in your country?

Mainstreaming at the global level

At the global level, mainstreaming EPM ensures that lessons of experience from the local and national levels are used to improve global agendas for urban development (Habitat Agenda), environmental management (Agenda 21, multilateral environmental agreements) and poverty reduction goals (MDG). Lessons of experience from the local and national levels can be used to improve support mechanisms from the international community to national and local levels (multilateral, bilateral, decentralised cooperation). One of the chief ways in which EPM can be mainstreamed at the global level is through the facilitation of dialogue among national actors (mainly but not exclusively national governments), especially through intergovernmental meetings such as the Governing Councils of UNEP and UN-HABITAT, and the Commission on Sustainable Development. Through such dialogues, global agendas could not only be improved, but would also be better known and understood at the national and local levels. In addition, more efficient implementation mechanisms could be identified. Is this happening? What urban environment issues are percolating into the global agenda through this process or other existing processes?