CLICC Conference

in a classic "oh, by the way" moment, I was emailing back and forth with someone who works for the city of Malmo in the Department for the Environment and he mentioned "Sustainability Week".  I was asking about finding someone to give me a tour of Augustenborg, a 1960's affordable housing urban development that had been falling into disrepair until, starting in the 90's, the city had targeted the buildings and neighborhood for upgrade and redevelopment using sustainable strategies as a driving force.  he said, "oh, maybe you should go to the conferences taking place next week as part of Malmo's Sustainability Week.  they are giving tours of Augustenborg, Sege Park, Vastra Hamnen..."

I couldn't believe my luck that an entire week of one day conferences and study tours was taking place while I happened to be here in Malmo.  I immediately emailed the conference organizers of two of the most exciting conferences, CLICC and Covenant CapaCITY.  both organizers responded quickly and allowed me to join the conferences past the registration date, for free, and said if there is space on the bus for the tours then I could join those as well.

start of the CLICC Conference in Malmo at the Malmomassan (conference center in Hyllie) presented by Kerstin Rubenson of Malmostad Environment Department

I will do separate postings about the neighborhood tours and even about some of the presenters, but here's a little bit about CLICC.  CLICC stands for Climate Living in Cities Concept (I think this link will take you to the auto translated Swedish page for more information).  the main goal of the four year pilot project is to provide opportunities and create successful strategies to drastically reduce the carbon footprint of people in cities.  with some funding from the country of Sweden, some from the EU, and some funding, participation, and organization from the city of Malmo (and other participating cities around the country), this program is a combination of grass roots movements and government facilitation.  the conference itself, called the midterm (program runs from 2010 to 2014) is an opportunity for stakeholders to get together and learn from the past and prepare for the future.

the conference website invites participants in by describing the conference:

Take part of project experience CLICC (Climate Living In Cities Concept), which presents a method for cost-effective climate renovation of buildings.  By combining investments with changes in behavior, climate impact from living in apartment buildings, together with costs, can decrease.

the conference was amazing and I sat on the edge of my seat all day, even when the presenter was talking only in Swedish and showing only Swedish slides.  thank goodness for google translate and free wireless access.  I learned quite a bit about what the city is doing and how it is tackling the immense job of helping its citizens learn about their part in the effort to become zero energy as a city (of 300,000 inhabitants!) and I spent much of the day in awe of the ongoing and long term effort and coordination taking place here in Malmo.

Trevor Graham of the Department of the Environment talking about the history of Malmo and the relevance of the idea of CLICC on the progress of the city toward carbon neutrality in the 21st century

I will post more as time allows on the conference and study tours.  the whole experience was... wait for it... yes...  you guessed it... amazing!