COP18 (03/12/12) – Michele Acuto, the Future of Cities Programme at the University of Oxford talks about the work that is already taking place within cities on climate change.

He says that cities are playing a large role in tackling environmental problems. He says it is nothing new that these cities are taking measures on climate change and that they have been doing this for some time.

He uses examples including work on transportation, building infrastructure and energy regulations to the complex transnational networks that are building up between cities across the world. He says that while at country level, the US, the EU and China struggle to sit in a room together, at a city level they are creating partnerships.

He says that talking of the model city is the wrong discussion to have and that we should be appreciating how diverse the different regions are. He says what we should be focusing on is building connections between cities and developing new systems together.