An Individual Digital Sustainability Journal.

Cities & Sustainability

Post 20: Sustainable Cities

And, in the same way that an animal’s metabolism is the result of cooperation between the brain, organs and enzymes, urban metabolism is facilitated by the city’s governance policies, its infrastructure, and its citizens. – Indicators for Sustainable Cities, European Comission
Post 19: Urban Waste

Waste management is one of the essential utility services underpinning society in the 21st century, particularly in urban areas. Waste management is a basic human need and can also be regarded as a ‘basic human right’. – Global Waste Management Outlook, UNEP
Post 18: Urban Transport

Because it is such a fundamental issue how sustainable our cities are, how we align our lives, plan our cities and connect with each other, I don’t want to leave transport out of it.
Post 17: Food Security

Last week was all about one of my favourite topics: Food! One aspect in particular stood out for me – to feed the world in 2050 we need to increase total global food production by 70% compared to 2009.
Post 16: Liveable Cities

What does liveability mean to you? I think if you ask your friends, it means something different to everyone, but you also find a lot of common ground. I would say that environment, food, culture, climate, connectivity and safety (in terms of health, housing, crime, stability and employment) mean a lot to everyone.
Post 15: Social Housing & Sustainability

A sustainable city should offer affordable quality housing, adequate infrastructure connections and educational opportunities for everyone. Unfortunately, this is not the actual case.
Post 14: Concrete

If concrete were a state, it would rank third in the ranking of the biggest climate polluters, just behind China and the USA. – srf.ch
Post 13: Organic Food?

During my little research on organic farming in Australia, I was surprised both positively and negatively: the majority of the cultivated area for organic food is in Australia with 35.6 ha, but when it comes to the number of producers or the size of the market, Australia no longer appears in any top list, which…
Post 12: Green Infrastructure

I would never want to live in a big city where I am only surrounded by ‘grey’ infrastructures – buildings, streets, concrete, … . But this is not just about my preferences – over the last few weeks it has also become even clearer to me how important green infrastructure is for us and in…
Post 11: Climate Strike

I remember very well the feeling I had when the climate movement got bigger, we all met Greta Thunberg and I participated in my first climate strike in 2019. It always makes me very emotional when I am surrounded by people demonstrating for a planet worth living on. So also this Friday, 25.03.22, when there…
Post 10: Energy Transition

Today we want to talk about where we are in the energy transition, what it actually takes to master it, and what challenges there are in the whole enterprise.
Post 9: Climate Policies in Berlin

Today I would like to take a look at the capital of Germany: Berlin. And show what is being done there for climate change adaptation and mitigation.
Post 8: A Sustainable Home

For a sustainable home, the following aspects come together: technology, urban design, institutions (governance) and human behaviour. Today I would like to focus on the design of a house to make it sustainable.
Post 7: Retrofitting the Building Stock for a Sustainable World

Climate action requires comprehensive measures to decarbonise the building stock by 2050, but buildings are responsible for up to 70% of a city’s carbon emissions. Let’s look at what we should do.
Post 6: Urban Gardening

I think that urban gardening is linked to very different issues in today’s society and that it can greatly enrich an environment (socially, economically and ecologically). That’s why I want to talk about it today – and because I also just got my fingers dirty… 😉
Post 5: Sustainability for everyone

Well, we always say that sustainability is so complex, difficult to define, to capture, to measure. But that we can all do our part. I would like to think about this further today.
Post 4: Climate Change

This time let us speak about what climate change means to us. Because it is affecting all of us. Let me start with a new perspective on this topic. My own story with climate change.
Post 3: System Thinking

“Many key global sustainability challenges are closely intertwined. These challenges include air pollution, biodiversity loss, climate change, energy and food security, disease spread, species invasion, and water shortages and pollution. They are interconnected across three dimensions (organizational levels, space, and time) but are often separately studied and managed.” – https://www.jstor.org/stable/24746213
Post 2: Green Sydney

Sydney surprised me with how much green it has and how much nature it is surrounded by. During my first weeks, I collected a number of first impressions that I would like to share with you in the following.
Post 1: Moving to Sydney

I begin my urban sustainability diary by sharing my first impressions of Sydney – more specifically, how the living conditions shape my sustainable lifestyle.