Copyright (c) 2012, Dr. S. Dumpleton

As a Geography student in Swansea University in 1974 at a time when Swansea City were languishing in Division 4, I remember well Professor Graham Humphreys leading us through a programme of lectures and visits related to the development of Swansea Bay as a city region. So it brought back memories to be chairing a meeting to consider the potential of a Swansea Smart City Region Demonstrator project.

The concept of city regions is now well established globally as a key means of achieving economic, social and environmental improvement. Mrs Hart as Business, Enterprise, Technology and Science Minister has set up a task force chaired by Elizabeth Haywood to review the potential of adopting a city region development model in Wales. Until now much of the public discussion has concentrated on how Cardiff, the Valleys and Newport might provide a south east Wales city region, although Carmarthenshire, Swansea, and Neath Port Talbot have made strong representation to the task force for the development of Swansea Bay (South Wales Evening Post) So at last it seems as if we have some progress on delivering  on the vision of those 1974 lectures.

The one advantage of this long gestation is that we can now make the jump from 20^th century thinking into a establishing a Smart City region that can meet the needs of the 21^st century. This is the vision that was presented by the Ecological Sequestration Trust - a new outcome-focussed UK charity that aims to prove, through a global network of Regional Demonstrator Projects, a low-carbon, economically attractive and resilient development path.

The Trust has been established by Peter Head, who is well known to many in Wales as an inspiring and influential agent of change, to deploy a ‘systems approach’ to meeting the combined challenges of: i) climate change, ii) economic growth fuelled by consuming finite resources unsustainably and iii) a growing global urban population with accompanying acute societal stresses. Over the next 5-years the Trust aims to:

• Establish an international high-profile and pervasive step-change improvement in how we plan and design our cities and their hinterlands,
• Demonstrate practical and achievable ways (at city/regional scale and at speed) of securing water, food and energy security in the world’s fastest growing economies, and challenge developed economies to ‘keep pace’ with these developments,
• Create an international network of Demonstrator cities/regions that are low-carbon exemplars for sustainability and economic resilience; these will be magnets for corporate innovation and collaboration and provide powerful evidence to shape the climate, sustainability and urban development programmes of the world’s main international agencies and donors,
• Accelerate technologies to sequester (capture) greenhouse gas emissions from coal and gas power stations and industrial processes using biological processes and harness these to increase food production & water supply in a new ecological urban development strategy,
• Accelerate progress towards sustainable development underpinned by balanced economic and ecological principles, to enhance the resilience of these communities and deliver profound health and quality of life benefits for the citizens of these cities and regions.

The Trust has secured support for city-scale demonstrators in China, Africa and India and now proposes that the Swansea Bay Region become a European demonstrator project developing a high-ambition collaboration between the public, private, knowledge and third sectors in Swansea Bay, linking the region with exemplars for sustainable development in the Trust’s global network of partners, global corporations and investors.

The rationale provided by the Trust for their proposal for Swansea Bay to be their European demonstrator was based around the:

• The sustainable development duty of Welsh Government and the ability to link with key leading policy developments such as the ecosystem services approach in Living Wales and the Sustainable Development Bill
• Presence of Tata steel as a major global business who have committed long term development in Swansea Bay
• The natural landscape with marine, river estuarine, coastal plain, upland and valleys hinterland
• The strong industrial heritage
• The strength of the higher education and associated knowledge based industry
• The development work already underway in the local authorities

The Trust’s proposal challenges the Swansea Bay Region and Wales to demonstrate its cutting-edge leadership and ambition, though practical action. “The region's abundant natural resources once formed the crucible in which the industrial age was born and the Trust’s proposal makes a case for Swansea Bay playing a similar role in forging the ecological age.”

The initial meeting brought together a range of the key private, public and third sector partners to establish the interest and capability of the region to respond to this challenge. There was no questioning the scale of interest, what we now have to test is the capability to respond. As always strong connected leadership across all sectors will be the key to successful delivery.

The Trust is planning to announce its Demonstrator and Patronage network at the Rio+20 talks in mid-June, providing a high-profile opportunity for the region, Welsh Government and partners to demonstrate leadership in joining an initiative linking exemplars for sustainable development action globally. This may be a key opportunity for us to translate all our policies and rhetoric on sustainable development to demonstrate the scale of change that is needed and join Swansea City as a premier league player in countries leading the change! Graham Humphrys 1972 book “ Industrial South Wales” ends with a “plea for a plan” for the city region – finally we might have one!

David Robinson chairs the Early Action Task Force, and was invited to spend a day in Cardiff to share his thinking on the recent report from the Task Force, The Triple Dividend - Thriving Lives, Costing Less, Contributing More.

The key issue of this report is how do we build a society that prevents problems from occurring rather than one, which as now, copes with the consequences?