EMEA at COP28: The Built Environment & Green Living Areas

This event, organised by EMEA at COP28 in the Mediterranean Coalition Office, focused on "The Built Environment & Green Living Areas as resilience and adaptation approaches to climate change", bringing the Interreg Euro-Med Green Living Areas Mission centre stage. The event was moderated by Project Manager Joanna Grodzka (EMEA) with the panellists:

• Judith Cazas Project Officer, Interreg Euro-MED Programme
• Upali Nanda, Global Practice Director, Research Partner at HKS, Inc., Assoc. AIA, EDAC, ACHE
• Amaia Celaya Alvarez, Shelter & Settlement and Climate Resilience, Advisor at IOM - UN Migration
• Julie Hiromoto, FAIA, Principal and Director of Integration at HKS, Inc., FAIA, LEED AP BD+C, WELL AP, LFA
• Esteban Leon, Head, City Resilience Global Programme (CRGP), UN-Habitat (United Nations Human Settlements Programme)
• Sheba Ross Titus, Global Practice Director, Cities and Communities, and a Partner at HKS, Inc. AICP CUD, Intl., Associate AIA, CDT, LEED AP
• Alejandro Lafarga Martinez, Programme Officer, Interreg NEXT MED

Details:
Climate change is altering all spheres of life from the environmental, social, and economic perspectives. A systemic and holistic vision is necessary to design and implement solutions to mitigate and adapt to the effects of climate change. Strategic governance, based on cooperation and coordination is needed to advance in the right direction to adapt the living areas. Incorporate sustainability and build resilience.

This challenge is tackled by the EU INTERREG Euro-MED Green Living Areas Mission. The project aims to improve the lives of Mediterranean citizens by promoting the development of Green Living Areas. The Mission is to put sustainable development, management of living areas, and the energy transition front and centre to improve the quality of life of Mediterranean citizens. Throughout the project, green living areas will be developed with minimum impact on the Mediterranean and global climate system by addressing air pollution, energy consumption, and mobility issues.

The Community Project (C4LA), aims to build a community among thematic projects and facilitate resource transfers to stakeholders, focusing on technical and strategic content. This project has the twin Institutional Dialogue Project (D4LA), which aims to amplify the transfer of policies by fostering focused dialogue among policymakers and their stakeholders, focusing on policy mainstreaming. This session aims to discuss the main challenges of living areas in the context of climate change, as well as the actions that should be adopted to make it more sustainable. The participants will share their experiences on how to facilitate the green transition in the areas of energy, mobility, economy, urban health, and liveability.