Unfortunately the lifestyle of the majority of Odessa inhabitants has nothing in common with the basis of sustainable development. However I am fully confident that this state of affairs can be improved within the next few years. In my opinion, the principal condition for these changes is an active position of the citizens.The old Russian proverb says: “Fish rots from the head…but should be scaled from the tail”.In real it completely represents the current situation in Odessa. The “head” is stuck in a endless process of promotion of “sustainable” laws. But can we afford to stay inactive because of the lack of appropriate legislation?! I think NO. The “tail” should start fighting for increasing the quality of human life. And the first fight is certainly against our own prejudices, habits and ignorance. I also believe that the active social position will be able to awake the political one. And then joining our forces we will achieve the status of sustainable city.In this presentation I describe the most urgent, to my point-of-view, improvements required for the current situation in Odessa. They concern the activity of government, city authority and population as well as the collaboration between all of these levels. All my propositions are based on the common sense and successful experience of other countries and regions in each certain sphere.

Renewable energyThanks to the location (Odessa is surrounded by sea and steppe) the region is an ideal place for wind energy, that can be produced in: Wind farms in plain areasSuch project has been recently realized in Ukrainian region Zaporizhia. Now it generates 90 MV. Offshore wind farmsNever used before in Ukraine, but successfully produce energy in Denmark, Sweden, etc.

Thanks to the high sun activity and number of sunny days per year as well as to the spacious plain territories Odessa region has a huge potential to become a leader of solar energy in Ukraine with: Photovoltaic power stationsSuch project has been realized in 2009 in Ukrainian region - the peninsula Crimea. Now it generates 100 MVt.For ecologist: The construction of the 100MV photovoltaic powers station and a complex of 200 MV wind farms in Odessa will have the capacity to reduce about 835.000 tons of CO2 each year. For economist: The pay back period of such projects is about 5 years, thanks to the high feed-in tariff established by government until 2030.

Sustainable architecture and design

The systems of alternative energy should be also supported by private houses and lands owners as well as by the residents and developers of high-rise apartment buildings with the usage of:• solar water heaters (it is also necessary to provide

the obligatory law for new houses, similar to the Spanish one, and also to the houses on the 1st sea line)

• solar roof panels (special conditions for developers of high-rise apartments, since now it is used only by a small private sector)

• solar kitchens for country summer houses (Finnish innovation that is not well-known in Ukraine yet but is widely used in Chinese villages)

• wind farms on the private lands

Another “green” innovations that we can use in our houses are:• light tubes that provide indoor space with a daylight during the day hours (practiced in German and

Australia)• furniture, items of décor and accessories made of recycled materials (fashion trend in German, Swiss, etc.)

Planting and GardeningOdessa has always been well-known by its beautiful parks and alleys. The majority of the inhabitants of the city are involved either into planting flowers, bushes and trees in the surrounding areas or into gardening in their country houses’ lands.

For ecologist: The green roof reduces the usage of the conditioning by 40-60 %, that consequently decreases the usage of electricityFor politician: Berlin authority pays 60% back to the owner of the house that lays out a garden on its roof For economist: To equip the roof for the intensive green in Odessa costs 73 euro/m2. This sum can be paid back during 3-5 years by using the roof as an agriculture space (intensive green roof) or as a golf area (extensive green roof).

The improvements that should be undertaken in this sphere are the following:• to substitute old, non oxygen-efficient trees for the new tree and bushes types in

both private and municipal lands (practiced in the USA) • to plant the city lawns located along the roads with the most oxygen-efficient plants• to lay out new parks, alleys and gardens in the city, esp. in bedroom communities

• to promote and realize the idea of the roof gardens, esp. for the high-rise apartment buildings in order to enrich the air with oxygen as well as to increase noise protection and reduce heating (practiced in Norway, the USA, etc.)

Green transportNEW MUNICIPAL TRANSPORT• to substitute old transport into innovative and eco-friendly one, to increase its amount and to improve its service quality, to put some extra services (e.g. free wi-fi) in order to level up the citizens loyalty to it (such reforms were carried out in Ukrainian city Vinnytsia)• to develop new kinds of city transportation: e.g. local sea transport (that functioned during the years of the Soviet Union) and air metro (popular in Venezuela, Barcelona, Hong Kong)CARPOOLING • to create special website for registration of people that can

share one car in the journey to the same direction (practiced in the USA)

BICYCLING• to reconstruct the current bicycle lanes and develop new

ones• to put into operation bicycle stations with the service of rent

(by the example of Velib in Paris)WALKING AND MARAPHONS• to reconstruct the current walking paths• to promote advantages of walking, to establish an awarded

marathon as one of the brightest events of Odessa (practiced in Japan)

To decrease the number of autos in the roads of Odessa is possible launching the following programs:

CHANGES IN TRANSPORT LEGISLATION • to create a special road line exclusively for

cars with passengers (practiced in Spain)• to provide the owners of electric and hybrid

autos with fringe benefits (e.g. free municipal parking)

• to minimize the car utilization fee from 500 euro (current min rate) to 50 euro (like in Holland) and create the program for the utilization of autos older than 20 years according to which the owner gets and government payment (as practiced in Denmark with cars older than 10 years)

All the improvements enumerated above are necessary for Odessa that is going to embark on the path of sustainable development. Neverheless, in this chapter I draw the attention to the priority problems of the region that should be solved as a preliminary step in its evolution.

RECYCLING PROBLEMIn contrast to the most European cities and even some Ukrainian regions Odessa still doesnt have the system of separate utilization. The local authority has urgently:•to provide the city streets with the necessary amount of refuse bins for separate utilization •to provide the parks, fardens, beaches and other places of leisure with special dustbins at a distance not less than 5 m from each other•to minimize the quantity of the garbage dumps

THE DRYING OG THE PONDSOdessa region has the same problem with several ponds during the latest years, but the situation with Kuyalnik Estuary (a famous in Ukraine mud health spa) got its climax! It is urgently necessary: •to bring Kuyalnik Estuary back to life with the help of laying a tubing btw it and The Black Sea

The critical pointsTHE SEA PORT PROBLEMS•to eliminate the uncontrolled emissions of oil during the throughput with the help of the total sea port modification•to minimize the oil supplies thanks to the increasing of dry cargo supplies and the development of capacity of the terminal for international passenger liners

Education and scienceI know the lion’s share of the success in creation of sustainable city can be achieved as soon as all layers of Odessa society are informed about the problems existing in the city, educated in the principles of sustainable development and interested in its innovations. So, this is just necessary:• to introduce a new subject based on the document of The

Earth Charter into educational program of schools (the same practice took place in India)

• to conduct a serious of lectures dedicated to the sustainable development for students, government offices and businessmen

• to carry out a persuasive advertising campaign of the principles of sustainable city in order to promote its ideas btw the population

I also believe that the level of knowledge of our scientists (biologists, ecologists, physicist, etc.) is high enough to be involved in the solving of such world-wide problems as the development of the third-generation green technologies and the method of elimination of greenhouse gases in atmosphere. To motivate the scientific progress, it is necessary:• to provide the government sector with the appropriate financing• to establish an award for the inventions in this sphere (e.g. Virgin Earth Challenge established by British

corporation Virgin)