New Report Explores How Cities Can Participate in the Follow-up and Review of Global Sustainability Agendas

By |2024-01-02T14:54:01+01:00February 12th 2018|

At the Ninth Session of the World Urban Forum in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Cities Alliance has launched a new report that aims to help local and regional governments understand how they can participate in the follow-up and review process for global urban sustainability and climate agendas.

New Urban Agenda implementation slow, if not steady

By |2024-01-02T14:54:18+01:00February 9th 2018|

As the ninth session of the World Urban Forum gets into full swing in the humid heat of Kuala Lumpur, it has become increasingly clear that progress toward achieving the lofty ambitions of the New Urban Agenda has so far been slow, writes Gregory Scruggs. Fifteen months after Habitat III wrapped up in Quito, there is much talk of frameworks and action plans, but little in the way of fresh deliverables.

Heading for Kuala Lumpur: The challenge of implementing Sustainable Urban Solutions

By |2024-01-02T14:55:58+01:00January 30th 2018|

In less than a week, the 9th session of the World Urban Forum, the largest international stakeholder gathering of passionate urbanists, will kick off in Malaysia. Franz Marré looks ahead and shows why WUF9 is an important platform for strategic discussion and arena for innovation.

World Urban Forum will set stage for a busy 2018

By |2024-01-02T14:56:15+01:00January 30th 2018|

Around 20,000 urbanists are poised to gather in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, for the ninth session of the World Urban Forum. However, WUF9’s preparations for a quadrennial report will not be taking place in a vacuum. The conference comes only at the beginning of a busy year, writes Gregory Scruggs.

National Urban Policies: a policy lever to foster a New Urban Agenda? – Part II

By |2023-12-19T15:22:33+01:00January 10th 2018|

The New Urban Agenda calls upon nation states to implement National Urban Policies to achieve integrated and coherent sustainable urban development. In the first part of this article, author Rene Peter Hohmann displays current discussions on National Urban Policies and their possible categorisation as this question remains open. To reflect on the various policy intentions that national governments may pursue under an umbrella of National Urban Policies, this second part will examine a variety of case studies more closely.

National Urban Policies: a policy lever to foster a New Urban Agenda? – Part I

By |2023-12-19T15:22:45+01:00January 3rd 2018|

National Urban Policies are recognised as an effective and necessary tool to achieve sustainable and inclusive urban development as envisioned in the New Urban Agenda. However, it is still unclear what constitutes a National Urban Policy and how such a policy could help catalyse the implementation of the New Urban Agenda. In order to bring some light into these discussions, Rene Peter Hohmann reviews the current body of academic literature as well as policy assessments to analyse and categorise a sample of 19 countries with an explicit National Urban Policy in place.

Sustainable development in the metropolitan century: where do we stand one year after Habitat III?

By |2023-12-19T16:33:42+01:00October 27th 2017|

One year has passed since the historic adoption of the New Urban Agenda, two since the adoption of the 2030 Agenda. Is the implementation of the agendas on track? What are obstacles and how can we improve the process?

Voices on 1 year New Urban Agenda

By |2023-12-19T16:49:45+01:00October 19th 2017|

This month, the New Urban Agenda (NUA) celebrates its first anniversary. What has happened since its adoption at Habitat III in Quito? We asked Billy Cobbett (Cities Alliance), Mei Yi (Mayor of Jingdezhen, China), Eugénie L. Birch (Professor at the University of Pennsylvania), Yang Jun (Mayor of Suzhouto), María Alejandra Vicuña Muñoz (Minister of Urban Development and Housing of Ecuador) to take stock of the past 12 months’ implementation actions.

UN Urban without a future, but some common ground builds up

By |2023-12-19T15:17:09+01:00September 8th 2017|

This week's high-level meeting on UN Habitat in New York City has shown that member states are committed to the Habitat process, but view critically the proposals put forward by an independent assessment panel. URBANET reports on the outcomes of the meeting.

Habitat Reform – Business as usual will yield results as usual

By |2023-12-19T15:17:26+01:00September 1st 2017|

Next week, the two-day high-level meeting of the General Assembly on UN-Habitat will take place in New York. Member states of the United Nations will gather there and discuss future reform steps for UN-Habitat. Franz Marré provides some thought-provoking reflections on the reforms proposed by the high-level panel and says that business as usual is not an option.

What does the Integral Implementation of the New Urban Agenda mean?

By |2023-12-19T15:19:55+01:00July 7th 2017|

Latin America and the Caribbean is one of the most urbanised regions of the planet. At the same time it is also the world’s most unequal region, a region where poverty and wealth coexist and antagonise each other daily, especially in urban spaces. Today, 80 per cent of the Latin American population lives in cities, with half of the urban population in LAC concentrated in rapidly growing intermediate cities. But what are the main challenges cities in Latin America and the Caribbean have to face? And which integral approaches do cities pursue to overcome them?

From Blade Runner to Habitat IV, Part II: How livelihoods can make or break the City of Tomorrow

By |2023-12-19T14:55:53+01:00January 12th 2017|

Part I presented two subsequent paradigms related to the world of work, Fordism and Post-Fordism. Subsequently, it was argued that there are two contrasting trends in the world of (urban) labour: flexibility and stability. This is the second and concluding part of the article, which includes considerations about policies.

From Blade Runner to Habitat IV – How livelihoods can make or break the City of Tomorrow

By |2023-12-19T14:56:20+01:00January 10th 2017|

"Our Struggle for Global Sustainability will be won or lost in cities", said Mr. Ban Ki-Moon, the former Secretary-General of the United Nations. The present article argues that our struggle for good urbanisation will be won or lost depending on the opportunities and conditions of work.

Habitat III – Looking back on a milestone in the global urban development debate

By |2023-12-19T14:46:40+01:00November 1st 2016|

On October 20, 2016, the New Urban Agenda was adopted, setting the priorities and expectations for the next 20 years of urban development against the backdrop of growing urbanisation. The Habitat III conference in Quito, which hosted a vast array of events besides the official negotiations reflected the themes of the New Urban Agenda and the hopes attached to it. Here is a review of the events and atmosphere in Quito.

Go to Top