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The main impetus for this report (and for the reports prepared for the other six growth poles) is a request received from the Ministry of Regional Development and Public Administration. The request came within the context of on-going preparations for the 2014-2020 Programming period, with Energy Efficiency being one the major themes of the Europe 2020 strategy, and a critical priority for all EU Member Countries. Within Romania, local authorities that will want to access energy efficiency funds under the 2014-2020 Regional Operational Program will need to first prepare energy efficiency strategies. The TRACE tool is specifically targeted at local authorities, and is a good instrument for drafting such strategies. After the 1989 Revolution, Romania began its transition from a centralized system to a market-based economy. Today the country is a member of the European Union (EU) and NATO. After more than a decade of economic restructuring and political change, the country has taken significant steps toward catching up with the economic performance of more developed EU countries. Although radical reforms brought about significant changes in recent years, the standard of living of Romanians is still behind the EU average. The transition period after the end of the communist regime has led to significant changes in the social and economic life of the residents of Craiova. Some of these developments have positively affected people's life, whereas a few came along with inconveniences and difficulties. During the first years of transition the city attracted people from parts of Dolj County and from elsewhere in Romania. This process led to severe de-population in the rural areas of Dolj County. At the same time, due to economic constraints, some of the urban population of Craiova moved to the wider metropolitan area. Like every other city in the country, municipal buildings in Craiova require proper measures toward improving energy efficiency - particularly in health care and education facilities managed by the city government. A benchmarking of the municipal building stock, along with audit and retrofit measures, should be performed in order to identify the highest energy savings potential and proper intervention measures. As for the water sector, although the system covers the entire city and most of the households in Craiova have water meters, there are high losses in the network. In addition, in order to improve the overall efficiency of the water system, oversized pumps needs to be replaced with smaller, energy-efficient ones. Finally, although selective collection has been implemented in Craiova, there is more that can be done about improving recycling rates.

The Tool for Rapid Assessment of City Energy (TRACE) is used for conducting rapid assessments of energy use in cities. It helps prioritize sectors with significant energy savings potential, and identifies appropriate energy efficiency interventions across six sectors-transport, municipal buildings, water and waste water, public lighting, solid waste, and power and heat. It is a simple, low-cost, user-friendly, and practical tool that can be applied in any socioeconomic setting. This report is based on the implementation of the TRACE tool in Iasi in July 2013 and it outlines ideas on what the city could further do to improve its energy efficiency performance. It details the analysis carried out and the recommendations derived as a result, for energy efficiency action plan and strategy, district heating maintenance and upgrade, non-motorized transport, public transport development, traffic flow optimization, parking restraint measures, municipal building benchmarking program, traffic restraint measures, municipal buildings audit and retrofit, and street lighting timing program.

The Tool for Rapid Assessment of City Energy (TRACE) is used for conducting rapid assessments of energy use in cities. It helps prioritize sectors with significant energy savings potential, and identifies appropriate energy efficiency interventions across six sectors-transport, municipal buildings, water and waste water, public lighting, solid waste, and power and heat. It is a simple, low-cost, user-friendly, and practical tool that can be applied in any socioeconomic setting. This report is based on the implementation of the TRACE tool in Ploiesti in February 2013, and it outlines ideas on what the city could further do to improve its energy efficiency performance. It details the analysis carried out and the recommendations derived as a result, for energy efficiency action plan, district heating maintenance and upgrade, non-motorized transport, public transport development, parking restraint measures, traffic restraint measures, municipal buildings audit and retrofit, and street lighting timing program.

Early in the year, as the global economy was slowing and the euro area entered a recession, Russia's economy held steady. But now, as 2012 is entering its final quarter, growth is slowing. Just at a time when Russia's output levels have exceeded the pre-crisis peak, the economy is settling onto a lower trajectory, even though oil prices have stayed high. But let us start with the strong points. The economy had a good first half of the year. While growth was stalling in Europe and slowing in other emerging economies, it remained steady in Russia. Key economic indicators were near or at record levels: the current account surplus stayed high and the Central Bank of Russia added to its reserves, helping to bolster market confidence. Capital outflows, long regarded as one of the soft spots of Russia's economy, declined in the second and third quarters of 2012 from the peaks in the previous two quarters. Whereas many countries in Europe are struggling with large public debt and high fiscal deficits, Russia's federal government public debt is close to single digit and the fiscal balance is in surplus. Inflation and unemployment rates declined to their lowest level in two decades. As people's purchasing power improved and more people had jobs, fewer people were in poverty than at any time since the beginning of the economic transition. A challenging external environment and worsening sentiments among businesses and consumers translate into weak growth prospects. Excluding the crisis years of 1998 and 2009, growth in 2012 is set to decline to its lowest rate in a decade and a half. And 2013 is unlikely to look much better. The weak outlook means that strong, three-pronged policy action is essential to reinvigorate the economy. First, economic policies have to ensure stability. The recent tightening in monetary policy was an important step in this direction. Second, Russia has to build buffers against the external volatility. This means replenishing the reserve fund, moving towards inflation targeting and strengthening banking supervision. Finally, the government has to lift the growth potential of the economy. This means raising productivity and competitiveness, diversifying the economy, and improving transport connectivity, as discussed in the last section of this report, in line with its longer-term economic policy goals. Making headway on this agenda will enable Russia to lift growth above 4 percent and more.

This report examines how green growth and sustainable development policies can be incorporated into structural reform agendas. Indeed, as demonstrated in the report, many of these policies are closely linked and synergistic with the framework policies applied by G20 governments in their efforts to pursue strong and sustainable growth. The report, has been prepared in response to the request from G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors in their communication of 25-26 February 2012 that asked the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), with the World Bank and the United Nation (UN), to prepare a report that provides options for G20 countries on inserting green growth and sustainable development policies into structural reform agendas, tailored to specific country conditions and level of development. The report will be an input to the G-20 leader's summit in Los Cabos and provides a toolkit of policy options from which countries may draw-upon when designing their own green growth strategies. The G20 development working group has also tasked the International Organizations with the development of a non-prescriptive toolkit of policy options to support inclusive green growth in the context of sustainable development and poverty eradication in developing countries.

Made available in DSpace on 2015-04-22T22:10:45Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Camila Bagnaschi.pdf: 2003266 bytes, checksum: 85e68836844418bceb44e165d5e4d515 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-05-16 Funda????o de Amparo ?? Pesquisa do Estado do Amazonas In Brazil, most of the population lives in cities and urban centers and large part of Brazil urbanization took place quickly and without planning. The accelerated rural-urban migration contributed even more for cities acquire the image of urban populous and disorganized. The result of this training process is also reflected in the organization of various public services essential for the development of cities, among which stands out the public transportation. The problems regarding this service have generated large waste as the waiting time, travel costs, pollution, accidents and others, which tend to deteriorate, negatively impacting both the productivity of urban space and the quality of life. Aiming at a rapid reorganization of public transportation, the search for alternatives is growing more efficient and tailored to local economic realities and possibilities, aimed not only meet current needs but also future. To achieve its objectives, this paper draws on research literature and documents to justify the foundations of city planning and urban growth thereof, describing the whole process of development and also about addressing the reality of public transport in Manaus and the need to implement a new system, using a model decision. Therefore, this research aims to present the applicability of multicriteria methods through comparative analysis between public transports systems as an aid to the decision maker in choosing the alternative considered most satisfactory. It also aims to identify the main public transport systems adopted in Brazil, in addition to analyzing the current situation of public transport in the city of Manaus. It is further objective of this research relate to decision making and on multicriteria methods, more specifically the method Prometh??e II, as a tool to aid in decision making about the new system of public transportation that should be adopted by Manaus. After application of the method Prometh??e II based on the criteria and weights set by the managing agency of public transport in the capital of Amazonas, the research indicated that the transport system is the most satisfactory alternative to meet the needs of Manaus and respond to issues raised in this paper No Brasil, a maior parte da popula????o vive nas cidades e nos centros urbanos e em grande parte do territ??rio brasileiro a urbaniza????o deu-se de forma r??pida e sem planejamento. O acelerado fluxo migrat??rio campo-cidade contribuiu ainda mais para que as cidades adquirissem a imagem de aglomerados urbanos populosos e desorganizados. O resultado desse processo de forma????o reflete-se tamb??m na organiza????o de diversos servi??os p??blicos essenciais para o desenvolvimento das cidades, dentre os quais se destaca o transporte p??blico coletivo. Os problemas referentes a esse servi??o t??m gerado grandes desperd??cios quanto ao tempo de espera, custo de deslocamento, polui????o, acidentes, dentre outros, que tendem a se agravar, impactando de forma negativa tanto na produtividade do espa??o urbano quanto na qualidade de vida da popula????o. Visando um r??pido processo de reorganiza????o do transporte p??blico coletivo, cresce a busca por alternativas mais eficientes e adequadas ??s realidades econ??micas e possibilidades locais, que venham suprir as necessidades n??o somente atuais como tamb??m futuras. Para atingir seus objetivos, este trabalho recorre ?? pesquisa bibliogr??fica e documental, para justificar os fundamentos do planejamento das cidades e o crescimento urbano das mesmas, descrevendo todo o processo de desenvolvimento e tamb??m abordando sobre a realidade do transporte coletivo em Manaus e a necessidade de implanta????o de um novo sistema, atrav??s de um modelo de tomada de decis??o. Portanto, esta pesquisa tem como objetivo apresentar a aplicabilidade de m??todos multicriteriais por meio da an??lise comparativa entre os sistemas de transporte coletivo como aux??lio ao tomador de decis??o na escolha da alternativa considerada mais satisfat??ria. Objetiva tamb??m identificar os principais sistemas de transporte coletivo adotados no Brasil, al??m de analisar a atual situa????o do transporte p??blico da cidade de Manaus. ?? objetivo dessa pesquisa ainda versar sobre a tomada de decis??o e sobre os m??todos multicriteriais, mais especificamente o m??todo Prometh??e II, como ferramenta de aux??lio na tomada de decis??o sobre o novo sistema de transporte p??blico coletivo que deve ser adotado por Manaus. Ap??s a aplica????o do m??todo Prometh??e II com base nos crit??rios e pesos definidos pelo ??rg??o gestor do transporte coletivo da capital amazonense, a pesquisa indicou o sistema de transporte que representa a alternativa mais satisfat??ria para suprir as necessidades de Manaus e responder ?? problem??tica levantada neste trabalho

Developed at the request of the Mexican G20 Presidency for consideration by the Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors at the G20 Leaders' Summit in Mexico, and jointly prepared with the Asian Development Bank, this policy paper positioned green transport in the context of cities development. Urban transport determines the shape of a city and its ecological footprint. Many cities in low and middle income countries are at a crossroads. Policy decisions taken now, while car use is still relatively low and cities retain a relatively transit friendly, compact urban form, will affect how people will live in their cities for many decades into the future. A new paradigm of urban transport can be part of the solution to reversing the deteriorating situation in some cities of developing countries, and supporting others to embark on a sustainable, low carbon, green growth path: developing a city for people rather than cars, and including public and mass transport as a major component of the modal structure. Implementing such a new paradigm can be truly transformational. This joint World Bank and Asian Development Bank paper lays out six aspects, which are most difficult to align, yet, are critical to ensure the sustainability of urban transport systems, visionary leadership, integrated strategy for land use and urban transport, coordination among agencies, domestic capacity, adequate cost recovery, and private participation in the operation and construction of urban transport systems. The paper proposes a set of new initiatives for G20 leaders' consideration, including the development of an umbrella toolkit to guide policy makers in charge of urban planning to make transport decisions best suited to their local contexts.

La gestión del transporte colectivo en la región metropolitana de Buenos Aires, otrora pionera respecto a las ciudades latinoamericanas y a la propia dinámica urbana, muestra un estancamiento que compromete su capacidad de responder a los desafíos actuales. También hay una inercia en la forma en que se diagnostica la situación, con una mirada puesta en la coyuntura, y un tratamiento fragmentado de los servicios de transporte y de las dimensiones de análisis. El objetivo del trabajo es reflexionar sobre la gestión de los transportes colectivos conforme a una revisión de los últimos 20 años orientada a identificar cambios ilustrativos de tendencias. Esta recuperación de lo acontecido sirve como hilo conductor a una reflexión que observa aspectos socio-territoriales, económicos y de la calidad de los transportes colectivos, tanto de los servicios públicos (trenes, buses, subtes, taxis) como de los nuevos servicios privados (chárter y remis). El diagnóstico comparado permite divisar la desigualdad socio-espacial como un resultado común de la gestión de los transportes colectivos metropolitanos. Llegada esta instancia, el trabajo finaliza identificando desafíos para la gestión y falsos dilemas, de cara al futuro. ENG: The management of the transport system in the metropolitan region of Buenos Aires, once a pioneer regarding Latin American cities and also the urban dynamics itself, shows a stalemate that compromises its ability to respond to current challenges. There is also an inertia in the situation diagnosis, since the attention is addressed to the circumstances, and a fragmented treatment of the transport services and the analysis dimensions. This paper points out the management of transport system (which includes public and private services) reviewing the past twenty years in order to identify illustrative changing trends. This path allows us to construct a guideline that includes socio-spacial and economic aspects, and also the quality of public transport services (train, metro, bus, taxi) and the new private services (charter and remis). The compared diagnosis shows the socio-spatial inequality as a shared consequence of metropolitan transport system management. We end up by identifying management challenges and some false dilemmas, facing the future.

In Africa, urban outdoor air pollution is responsible for an estimated 49,000 premature deaths annually with indoor use of solid fuels being responsible for eight times this value, the main burden being borne by Sub Saharan African countries. Air pollution, outdoor and indoor, affects the health and life chances of millions of people in Sub Saharan Africa (SSA)every day. There is a link between air pollution and poverty since poor people are exposed to higher concentrations of air pollutants and tend to suffer disproportionately from the effects of deteriorating air quality (AQ). Children in cities exposed to high concentrations of air pollutants will more often develop respiratory ailments which prevent them from developing and learning well. As a consequence they will suffer in adult life from low levels of qualifications and skills. The implication of poorly educated children is not only a reduction of quality of their lives but also an obstacle for the economic development of a country as a whole. Rapid urbanization means increase in motorization and economic activity which in turn leads to increased air pollution if countermeasures are not taken. In view these linkages addressing urban AQ in SSA is particularly important. Air pollution in Sub Saharan cities appears to be on the rise with respect to many key pollutants. In some cities where monitoring has been performed levels of air pollution exceed World Health Organization recommended guidelines. The main cause of urban air pollution is the use of fossil fuels in transport, power generation, industry and domestic sectors. In addition, the burning of firewood, agricultural and animal waste also contributes to pollution levels. Pollutant emissions have direct and indirect effects with a wide range of impacts on human health, ecosystems, agriculture and materials. There is a growing need to determine the state of urban AQ and the challenges posed to solve it and identify the most effective measures to protect human health and the environment. Learning from experience and successes in urban AQ management (AQM) from other countries can assists in the formulation and implementation of strategies to achieve better AQ in Sub Saharan Africa. This report compiles the information provided by the 25countries in a harmonized way and gives an in-depth review of AQ in SSA with AQ profile of each country, presenting the country's main current urban AQ issues, emissions standards, ongoing projects, lessons learned from good/bad practices. It was attempted to compile this information also for additional SSA countries from available publications and internet sources.

China is experiencing rapid and large scale urbanization, and the resulting local and global urban environmental challenges are unprecedented. The Chinese Government has fully recognized these challenges and is aiming to promote more sustainable urbanization in line with the objectives of the eleventh five year plan, which calls for 'building a resource-conserving and environmentally friendly society'. Various initiatives are being pursued to support this objective, both at the national and local levels. At the local level, cities have responded by developing 'eco-cities', which aim to promote a more sustainable urbanization model. More than one hundred eco-city initiatives have been launched in recent years. One such initiative is the Sino-Singapore Tianjin eco-city. The purpose of this report is to review the Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-City (SSTEC) project from a comprehensive perspective with a view to achieving the following principal objectives: (i) create a detailed knowledge base on the project; (ii) provide policy advice on key issues, especially those related to the Global Environment Facility (GEF) project; (iii) estimate SSTEC's Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emission reduction potential; and (iv) contextualize the project among the broader ecological urban development initiatives in China. Broadening the World Bank's engagement beyond the GEF was assessed as important given the project's complexity, and its potential to shed light on China's sustainable urban development challenges

International audience; The evaluation of user interactive systems has been an active subject of research for many years. Many methods have been proposed but most existing evaluation methods do not take the specific architecture of an agent-based interac-tive system into account and nor do they focus on the coupling between the archi-tecture and evaluation phase. In this article, we propose an agent-based architec-ture of interactive systems that is considered as being mixed (it is both functional and structural). Based on this architecture, we propose a generic and configurable model of an evaluation tool, called “electronic informer”, designed to assist evaluators in analyzing and evaluating interactive systems with such architecture

PUBLISHED, In metropolitan cities an efficient integrated public transportation system is unavoidable in order to restrict unsustainable growth of private and intermediate transport modes. Well designed feeder routes and coordinated schedules to minimize transfer time from main transit to feeder buses play an important role. Past literature reveals that heuristic approach had been popular for design of routes and had been applied successfully in verities of network design problems. Non traditional optimisation technique especially Genetic Algorithms are also found to be very effective in generation of optimised feeder routes and schedules. In this research Genetic Algorithm first develops feeder routes and then a specialized heuristic Algorithm works as repair algorithm in order to satisfy demand of all the nodes. Thus the advantages of both Genetic Algorithm and Specialized Heuristic Algorithm are obtained in this method. The developed feeder route structure is found to be better in terms of load factors in buses, satisfaction of demand and waiting time for feeder buses as compared to existing scenario and earlier approaches adopted by authors far the same study area.