The New Urban Agenda, adopted at the U.N. Habitat III Conference taking place this week in Quito, Ecuador, contains guidelines to make cities all over the world more inclusive, green, safe and prosperous.

Notes that energy reporting obligations as part of a framework are essential to evaluate the progress and implementation of existing energy efficiency legislation; regrets, however, the excessive energy reporting obligations imposed, also by gold-plating by Member States, on businesses, energy producers, consumers and public authorities, which limit the potential for growth and innovation; stresses that reporting duties should wherever possible be simplified in order to reduce administrative burdens and costs; criticises the fact that data obtained in reporting are often not comparable across the EU due to different breakdowns, methodologies and st ...[+++]andards; calls on the Commission to reduce, including through digital solutions, the administrative burden related to reporting obligations and to establish more guidelines on data comparability for better data evaluation; calls for aligning energy demand projections in line with cost-effective saving potential in key sectors, and believes that cutting red tape will speed up the implementation of energy efficiency measures; notes that applying the ‘energy efficiency first’ principle requires reviewing energy planning and reporting and improving policy coherence in order to ensure their mutual reinforcement, recognising that saving energy is Europe’s first and most secure source of energy; notes that energy efficiency can be the best energy ‘source’ investment, improving affordability of energy, driving down the need for additional and costly supply-side infrastructure and helping tackle climate change.

Cllr James McKay, Cabinet Member for a Green, Safe and Smart city, said: “By fitting homes across Birmingham with energy saving measures we will be helping citizens, including some of the poorest, to save money on their domestic fuel bills – making a real difference to their day-to-day lives.

Alberta might say, for example, that they want all its housing this year to be built in Calgary because that's where the shortages are, and the federal government might say it wants to make sure that housing builds safer cities, provides housing for immigrants, and continues to makes cities more competitive.

Are cities like Los Angeles, New York and Chicago safer than our cities because more people are in prison?

The city now has 100 000 displaced persons and many of its former inhabitants have preferred to leave for safer places such as Jalalabad and Mazar e Sharif.