Cities Climate Action Summit 2024: going green in the built environment 

Smarter lighting, greener future

Both inside and outside of buildings in cities, smart lighting is a key part of sustainable urban infrastructure, with the ability to reduce energy usage and improve safety and liveability. LED lighting, especially, has better energy efficiency, durability, and controllability than traditional lighting technologies. By replacing streetlights, public buildings, and outdoor spaces with LED fixtures and smart lighting controls, cities can achieve significant energy savings, reduce light pollution, and create safer and more attractive urban environments.

These technologies have been central to SmartCitiesWorld’s coverage of the urban environment in recent years, and will be front and centre of the discussions at the Summit, too. 

Resilient by design

Besides retrofitting and smart technologies, the Summit will also stress the need to include climate resilience and adaptation measures in the design and planning of the built environment. With the rising frequency and severity of extreme weather events, cities must make resilience a priority to protect infrastructure, buildings, and communities from climate-related risks such as flooding, heatwaves, and storms. This involves actions such as bolstering green infrastructure, using resilient building materials, and decentralising energy systems to improve resilience while lowering environmental impact.

The Summit also examines the role of policy and governance mechanisms in driving change in the built environment. Through regulatory incentives, financial mechanisms, and capacity-building initiatives, cities can create a supportive environment for sustainable building practices and encourage collaboration between public and private stakeholders. Discussions at the Summit will highlight the importance of stakeholder engagement and community participation in shaping the future of the built environment, ensuring that climate action initiatives are inclusive, fair, and responsive to local needs and priorities.

As the Cities Climate Action Summit brings together leaders and stakeholders from different sectors and backgrounds, it reinforces the importance of the built environment in tackling the global climate crisis. By adopting innovative solutions such as retrofitting, smart buildings, and smart lighting, cities can take advantage of opportunities to lower emissions, improve resilience, and create healthier, more sustainable urban environments. As urban populations keep growing and climate impacts worsen, the Summit acts as a call to action for cities to make the transformation of the built environment a central part of their climate action strategies.