The city has developed concomitant supporting policies and facilities that encourage cycling - interactive websites that provide guides to cycling routes, smooth lanes that guarantee cycling safety, passage precedence for cyclists at intersections, drinking water and tire inflating facilities along cycling routes, and safe and comfortable parking lots.

These measures have changed remarkably the proportion of cyclists to the number of private cars and the results are more than encouraging - a reduction of waste gas discharge and traffic accidents that involve cyclists, and measurable improvement in public health and urban environment.

The "zero-carbon" pavilion of London is based on the Beddington Zero Energy Development (BedZED) project in southern London. It showcases the incredible results of BedZED's energy-saving practices. The pavilion reduces carbon dioxide emissions by minimizing the usage of fossil fuels, such as coal, petroleum and natural gas, and maximizing the self-sufficient recycling operation of solar, wind, biological and geothermal powers for energy supply. For example, discarded disposable tableware and other organic waste generate electric and thermal energy in the process of degradation, and their residues can be used as bio-fertilizer.

The 80 cases are divided into four themed sections: Livable City, Sustainable Urbanization, Protection and Utilization of Historical Heritage, and Technological Innovation in the Built Environment. In building the city of tomorrow they embody responsibility as well as innovation.

Tree Houses and Air Trees

Many of the best urban practices were isolated real-life experiments modified and rolled out.

The "bamboo house," a rectangular storied building that is common in China, is actually an innovative model of the low-rent social housing project that the Madrid municipal government developed for its citizens. For more than a decade, Madrid has conducted a deliberate evolution of housing projects on its soil. Europe's largest social housing project now employs renewable energy, the latest environment-friendly materials, advanced ecological technology, and efficient construction operations, turning the Spanish capital into a dynamic trend-setter for residential construction.