Communication Network

•

Greater collaboration among munici-

pal leaders, citizens, and the private

sector could improve the results of

urban services such as waste mana-

gement.

When Dan Hoornweg, former World Bank

principal advisor on Sustainable Cities

mentioned that it was necessary for munici-

pal leaders to obtain the support of citizens

in relation to recycling and to improve waste

management solutions if they want to redu-

ce their impact and the vulnerability of the

environment, he said that “It is necessary

to find out how to manage cities with less

waste and less energy”.

Better flow of information could help to ma-

nage water in the cities:

•

The study revealed global concerns on

the future of the supply of infrastructu-

res and urban services, including the

supply and distribution of water and

the treatment of wastewater.

•

Those responsible for defining policies

consider water supply as one of the

three main problems in connection

with infrastructures and urban servi-

ces. Nevertheless, they face a difficult

task when trying to gain public sup-

port for “hidden” infrastructures, such

as water-related services.

•

72% of citizens would change their

water consumption if they had more

information on the levels of use, stres-

sing the need to improve the newsflow

and strengthen citizens’ involvement.

The report pointed out that emerging mar-

kets are the ones who suffer the most

from the bad conditions of infrastructures

which translate into over-exploited systems

and other deficient services. Reducing the

amount of waste is essential, including

waste resulting from deficient infrastructu-

res such as the water system. Therefore,

the study also referred to the improved co-

llaboration with citizens as a fundamental

requisite for the success of these cities.

Juan Béjar:

The challenges of a world that is

increasingly more urbanised

The pace of the urban growth process

in the world of the 21

century seems

unstoppable. Demographic growth is highly

concentrated in cities and as such, is one

of the greatest challenges faced by leaders

in their attempt to protect the future of their

cities in view of the overwhelming global

sustainability crisis.

Due to the population growth in cities, mu-

nicipal authorities have become more invol-

ved than ever in the welfare of citizens. In

order to govern a city, political and finan-

cial skills are required. Nevertheless, we

have also become increasingly aware that

it is also necessary to take advantage of

inventions and technological and social

adaptations in order to manage, process,

and communicate the decisions taken and

to learn about the reactions that they ge-

nerate.

The debate on the future of cities has been

dominated over the past few years by the

“smart” concept, observed specially from

the standpoint of the information network

and the use of major data to improve the

efficiency of infrastructures and services.

With the exception of a few cases, howe-

ver, this perspective has underestimated

the ability of citizens and the role that they

can play in the use of technological advan-

ces to participate in the local decision-ma-

king process and become players in their

urban surroundings.

At FCC, we believe that citizens are an es-

sential part of the group formed by political

leaders and private companies haired by lo-

cal governments. FCC is a citizen services

group and this implies that citizens are at

the centre of attention in everything that we

do, be it the vital construction of a metro

and railway system in Riyadh or Lima, ma-

nagement of critical waste services in the

United Kingdom Span and most of Central

and Eastern Europe, or the provision of

end-to-end water management services in

22 countries around the world.

We joined forces with The Economist Inte-

lligence Unit in this survey and global report

because we believe that foresight and pu-

blic debate is necessary in order to tackle

these challenges.

As can be deduced from the conclusions

of the report, one of the greatest difficulties

that we face is to meet the expectations

and the needs of citizens with practical and

viable solutions from the economic stand-

point. All is related with financial models,

newsflow, and management systems com-

bined with the added challenge of providing

these solutions in such a way that they en-

courage greater social integration, an es-

sential part of our activity.