Ahead of joining the European Union (EU) delegation of mayors and experts to take part in the EU-China Urbanization Forum in Beijing, Milan Mayor Giuliano Pisapia said that sustainable development was the "winning challenge" for the entire Planet.
Pisapia said in a recent exclusive interview with Xinhua that his official visit to Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou this week will be a precious occasion to discuss future opportunities for collaboration.
"Not only the exchange of views between different countries is important, but the positive choices of individual cities can set an example for the others," he said.
The Milan mayor said that sustainable development, which goes hand in hand with China's urbanization process, will be one of the main challenges of the country's new course, and "China is already making significant moves."
Milan, which will absorb its metropolitan area from 2014 for effect of a new law and will therefore exceed 3 million inhabitants, still has a much smaller size compared to China's metropolis.
Yet, the busiest Italian city has already experienced the development-led transformations that China is facing and can share the best practices as well as promote common agendas, Pisapia added.
Since he took power in June 2011, the Milan mayor has insisted on making citizens realize the importance of green policies. Step after step, Milan has achieved a leading role in what has been called the "Century of the Cities" in which cities will be regional catalysts of global growth.
The business capital, whose hinterland is Italy's most productive area, is part as Innovator City of the Cities Climate Leadership Group (C40), a network of cities from around the world committed to implementing sustainable actions locally. The organization has its European Regional seat in Milan.
Pisapia described the robust results with the initiatives delivered by his administration, such as the integrated mobility plan and congestion pricing, which generated a 30-percent traffic reduction and led to notable lowering by 60 percent of black carbon emissions in less than two years.
The charge, which replaced a previous limit on the most polluting vehicles, is 5 euros (6.7 U.S. dollars) per day and must be paid by motorists entering the city center. Residents are exempt for the first 40 entries but must pay a reduced fee of 2 euros per entry thereafter.
The lowered congestion also resulted in increased use of public transport as well as bike and car sharing. "The measure has the merit for arousing awareness. Many citizens who first opposed realized then the need for everybody to do their part in the fight against pollution," Pisapia said.
On the heating side, Milan has implemented "district heating." The mayor noted that around 93,000 apartments or a rough figure of 22 million cubic meters, 9.4 percent more than last year, are being treated with this system, which transfers heat from heating plants to consumers.
Energy efficiency, new technology services, collection of organic waste (that has reached a 44.6-percent level) and requalification of disused buildings and agricultural areas were among the other steps towards expanding Milan's spirit of Smart City also in light of the upcoming Expo 2015.
Pisapia noted that in a moment of trouble for the national industrial system, many young Italians have turned back to food production in the Milan territory, which has strong agriculture roots.
It was not by chance that the Milan Expo's theme "Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life" was aimed at raising an alarm regarding unacceptable wasting of food in a world where around 1 billion people are suffering from malnutrition while another billion are suffering from obesity.
In the wake of the successful Shanghai Expo 2010, the food-and-agriculture-themed event will further highlight the necessity of "sharing knowledge and technologies" at all levels to fight global hunger.
A total of 138 participants have signed up so far and a record number of 60 countries will build their own pavilions. China's pavilion will be second in size only to the Germany pavilion.
"We have different strengths but if we build cultural ties we find that we also have the same fundamental values: above all, we share the goal to achieve a better quality of life for our peoples," Pisapia pointed out.
The Milan mayor said he will bring to China his will to strengthen mutual confidence so to join efforts for sustainable development that he defined as "the winning challenge for Italy, for China and for the rest of the world."
Source: Xinhua
