This is a recap of the material covered in Module 2. Here is a summary of what was presented, why it matters, and how you can put to practice the knowledge and skills from this module.
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The Sustainable Development Goals were developed to replace the Millennium Development Goals, and apply to all countries without distinguishing between developed and development nations.
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Cities have a dedicated goal that sets out to “make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable."
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At their most fundamental, cities are not really agglomerations of people; they are agglomerations of connections between people.
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There is an optimum city size, the point at which the social interactions in a city are optimized for the costs of developing the infrastructure that make these interactions possible, which is a sustainable city.
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Greenhouse gas emissions attributable to cities are a balance between geophysical factors and technical factors.
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Understanding the greenhouse gas emissions from cities is of benefit as cities seek to reduce emissions by learning from the best practices of others.
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Green growth requires decoupling economic growth and human well-being from environmental impacts and resource consumption.
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Innovations in infrastructure and technology are required to achieve green growth; this includes fuel switching, fuel efficiencies, alternative energy and energy conservation, in addition to policies and financial incentives that support this transition.