Cities Programme Events Focus on Innovation, Poverty and Urban Agriculture at World Urban Forum

(Medellín, 11 April 2014) – The Global Compact Cities Programme, the urban component of the UN Global Compact, held a number of events as part of this year´s World Urban Forum in Medellín, Colombia. The Cities Programme – which is dedicated to the promotion and adoption of the Global Compact’s ten principles by cities, and translating the principles into day-to-day urban governance and management – convened four sessions over the week-long forum, highlighting cross-cutting urban issues such as city innovation, food security, urban poverty, and housing.

UN-Habitat’s World Urban Forum (WUF7): Urban Equity in Development – Cities for Life drew over 20,000 attendees from around the world, including Heads of State, governors, mayors, as well as representatives from business and civil society. WUF7 was a platform for discussions around the role of sustainable urbanization within the context of the Post-2015 Development Agenda.

A session on innovation in cities, organized by the Global Compact Cities Programme, gathered leaders from Colombia, Brazil and Spain to discuss practical, participatory and principled approaches to the development of prosperous and inclusive sustainable cities. Drawing on examples from Global Compact city participants, the session emphasized learning from the growing number of Latin American cities that are implementing socially-focused and integrated approaches to urban development.

In an effort to support the advancement of fair and sustainable food systems, the Cities Programme hosted a session,  in collaboration with the Australian Food Sovereignty Alliance, which convened stakeholders with an interest in sustainable food systems and urban agriculture to strengthen the networks and knowledge around this growing global movement. The session featured speakers from Australia, Egypt, Italy and South Africa who discussed challenges and opportunities of creating fair food systems in cities. Participants committed to continued collaboration and communication on the topic facilitated by the Global Compact Cities Programme.

Since 2012, the Cities Programme has been working in partnership with World Vision International’s Centre of Expertise for Urban Programming to develop measurable, scalable and flexible research methodologies based on World Vision’s urban pilot projects in six countries. These pilots explore different urban themes, including secure land tenure, child protection, urban livelihoods and youth empowerment.  The findings of this initiative were explored in a joint session, which opened the floor for a robust discussion on multi-sectorial and multi-disciplinary collaboration and community engagement to address urban poverty.

On the occasion of WUF7, the Cities Programme announced a new partnership with the Pan American Federation of Architects (FPAA) – a non-profit organization which unites architectural organizations from all parts of North, South and Central America and the Caribbean – to help improve the quality of urban life and tackle complex challenges across economic, ecological, political and cultural spheres. The Cities Programme also took part in a variety of other meetings as part of WUF7, including the Special Session on the United Nations High-Level InterAgency Meeting and the Roundtable on Indigenous Peoples.

• Learn more about the Global Compact Cities Programme 

Contact 

Elizabeth Ryan
Deputy Director
Global Compact Cities Programme
elizabethryan@citiesprogramme.org