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INSIGHT, Jun '02 Edition

Principles for Sustainable Cities Endorsed

UNEP IETC and the Environment Protection Authority of Victoria recently held an international charette (3-5 April 2002) in Melbourne, Australia, which was instrumental in developing the Melbourne Principles for Sustainable Cities, now known as the Melbourne Principles. The Melbourne Principles for Sustainable Cities, as endorsed by the participants of the charette, are intended to guide thinking and help build a vision of environmentally healthy and sustainable cities.

The 10 Melbourne Principles are:

  • Provide a long term vision for cities based on sustainability;
  • Empower people and foster participation and inter-generational equity;
  • Recognise and build on the characteristics of cities including their human, cultural, historic and natural systems;
  • Build on the characteristics of ecosystems;
  • Achieve long-term economic and social security;
  • Expand and enable cooperative networks to work towards a common sustainable future;
  • Enable communities to minimize their ecological footprint;
  • Enable continual improvement, accountability and transparency;
  • Require effective demand management and appropriate use of environmentally sound technologies for cities; and,
  • Recognise the intrinsic value of biodiversity and natural ecosystems and their protection and restoration.

...Recognise and build on
the characteristics of cities
 including their human, cultural,
historic and natural systems...

At UNEP IETC, the Melbourne Principles will provide the basis for pursuit of "Cities As Sustainable Ecosystems" (CASE), an IETC initiative. CASE is a new way of thinking about sustainable cities, and because of its potential for binding critical elements of sustainability within and for a city, it is expected to enable UNEP IETC to engage cities within an integrated sustainability framework.

The visionary, all-inclusive quality of the Melbourne Principles will be excellent guideposts for CASE. In addition, as part of the CASE initiative, UNEP IETC will invite exemplar cities from developed, developing and emerging economies to sign on to the Melbourne Principles.

The charette was part of Australia's contribution to the regional preparations for the World Summit on Sustainable Development to be held in Johannesburg in August 2002, and participants included urban managers and planners from developing countries in Asia Pacific.
  • Major Projects
  • DEBRI Project
  • DEBRI Project
  • Iraqi Marshlands Project
  • Iraqi Marshlands Project
  • IETC's Tools
  • Environmentally Sound Technology Information System
  • ESTIS facilitates creation and management of websites on the Internet, sharing and searching of information across multiple ESTIS websites, publishing of information by non-web designers and decentralized management of content.
  • WiseWater
  • WiseWater is a spreadsheet application for projecting reductions in Water Consumption Patterns after application of Environmentally Sound Technologies. It is included as part of the publication "Every Drop Counts: Environmentally Sound Technologies for Urban and Domestic Water Use Efficiency".
  • Pamolare
  • PAMOLARE is an environmental modelling tool to forecast the changes in water quality leading to the eutrophication of Lakes and Reservoirs.
    The versatility of PAMOLARE allows for its use in decision making process as well as for training purposes.