By: Jennifer V. Lukovich

Posted: 10/24/2018 4:00 AM

https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/analysis/addressing-climate-change-in-cities-498385581.html

Cities are a reflection of our thoughts, dreams and hopes. They are a dynamic mosaic of our values and priorities; they can inspire or defeat; nurture or destroy; captivate or dismiss. Cities offer the promise of solutions on a local scale as models for international co-operation. And they have the potential to be catalysts for change.

As we navigate a changing climate, international political instability and uncertainty and watch in disbelief an unfurling of condoned misdemeanours, we also, as citizens, have an opportunity during this municipal election and beyond to act on our shared desire and vision for a vibrant, accessible and fair city.

One step forward in realizing this opportunity is to establish a centre for citizen engagement and learning focused on implementing climate-change solutions using assets that render our city and province unique: built and natural heritage, hydroelectric power and shared knowledge. An undervalued yet defining feature of Winnipeg’s landscape has the potential to promote, in a co-working environment, the partnerships between local universities, colleges, government and the community that will position Winnipeg as a leader in clean energy in an international transition to a low-carbon future.

That centre, that feature and the true and silent soul of our city is the Hudson’s Bay downtown.

As has been advocated by Lloyd Axworthy, a city university could be established at the Hudson’s Bay downtown to address the challenges of a changing climate. The Bay downtown serves as a symbol and reminder of the vision, creativity and partnerships that built our city and province. The same vision and creativity can be harnessed and rediscovered, and partnerships and connections restored and expanded. A city university at the Hudson’s Bay building would revitalize downtown Winnipeg by creating a social and cultural hub for learning; it would foster economic growth through training and employment opportunities, to ensure that Winnipeg and its citizens achieve their full potential.

Below are some proposed climate actions and solutions complementary to Winnipeg’s climate action plan that build on local assets and could be pursued in a city university and centre for innovation at the Bay downtown.

First, monitor greenhouse-gas emissions in real time to ensure emissions-reduction targets are met and registered with the provincially mandated carbon-savings account outlined in the Made in Manitoba Climate and Green Plan. In Europe, the company Everimpact uses satellite and ground-sensing techniques to provide high-resolution real-time carbon and emissions maps for several cities, including London.

Sensors deployed on aircraft, transit buses, automobiles, businesses and at strategic locations throughout the city would provide an accurate and constant emissions inventory and identify emissions-intensive zones in Winnipeg. A burgeoning tech startup industry in Winnipeg, housed in the Bay downtown, would be ideally suited to this task.

Second, develop and implement an emissions-reduction strategy with a focus on heritage preservation and low-carbon mobility that encourages domestic use of electricity. It has been shown that building reuse and energy-efficiency retrofits offer the most significant emissions reduction in the urban building sector, by avoiding climate-change effects associated with material resource extraction, water- and air-quality pollution and energy required for demolition and new construction.

Support built and natural heritage-conservation districts in all mature neighbourhoods as an extension to what has been pursued in Armstrong’s Point and is being considered in Crescentwood. Provide an incentive to encourage reuse and retrofits over demolition and new construction through revisions to heritage-protection laws, municipal building codes and by introducing emissions fees in new construction.

Provide credits for tree maintenance and planting to preserve the urban tree canopy that acts as a sink for CO2 emissions.

Vibrant and accessible cities are distinguished by the quality of their public transportation systems. Develop an electric and hydrogen (E&H2) mobility strategy that will guarantee accessibility through an interconnected transit network of zero-emissions routes and zones. Consider developing an integrated transportation and energy-infrastructure framework for the city, utilizing federal infrastructure funds to invest in the infrastructure of a low-carbon 21st-century economy, not the asphalt of the 20th century.

Introduce a commuter tax along emissions-intensive routes. Ensure profitable domestic use of surplus electricity by rediscovering the integration between electricity and mobility, which gave rise to the Winnipeg Electric Streetcar company and streetcar system that once defined our city.

Winnipeg can, with a focus on heritage preservation and transit electrification, exceed the six per cent increase in building and 17 per cent reduction in transportation emissions by 2030 targets outlined in Winnipeg’s Climate Action Plan. The suggested 50 per cent of residential construction invested in infill housing could also be revised in light of housing opportunities available with underutilized and vacant heritage buildings.

Finally, support building- and transit-oriented participatory budgets for each ward (through reorganization of the existing budget and/or with federal infrastructure funds) that allow communities to identify optimal heritage and electric mobility solutions from the perspective of reduced emissions, increased accessibility and improved quality of life.

With these measures, let us act to find opportunities in addressing climate change and emissions-reduction challenges using an abundance of human and natural resources unique to our city and province.

And by acting, let us think, and dream, and hope again.

Jennifer V. Lukovich is a research scientist in climate change in the Arctic at the Centre for Earth Observation Science, University of Manitoba.