City2City
R-Cities | World Bank - Cities on the Frontline Speaker Series #20 Reflecting on COP26
The purpose of the series is to share knowledge to help cities respond to the pandemic crisis and to plan towards recovery with resilience. It is a platform for open and honest learning conversations between practitioners in cities and governments, and partners supporting them. The series brings together different experts and city practitioners to discuss specific topics and share tangible examples. 

Resilient Cities Network | World Bank - Cities on the Frontline Speaker Series #20 Reflecting on COP26

Date and Time: Thursday, December 9, 2021 | 8:00 am - 9:00 am Eastern Standard Time (EST)

Register here

Cities on the Frontline is an ongoing speaker series co-organized by the Resilient Cities Network and The World Bank Group’s City Resilience Program. The purpose of the series is to share knowledge to help cities respond to the pandemic crisis and to plan towards recovery with resilience. It is a platform for open and honest learning conversations between practitioners in cities and governments, and partners supporting them. The series brings together different experts and city practitioners to discuss specific topics and share tangible examples. Over 5,500 participants from around the world have attended the series, with a significant portion of the attendees being from city governments.

For access to the previous sessions' materials, visit the Speaker Series webpage for full access to the presentations & recordings: https://resilientcitiesnetwork.org/programs/cities-on-the-frontline-speaker-series/

For questions about the Speaker's Series or additional registration requests, please send an email to .

Venice City Solutions 2030 4th Edition

4th EDITION OF VENICE CITY SOLUTIONS 2030 2 - 3 December 2021 | 

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Venice City Solutions 2030 is a yearly event that focuses on how cities and local governments are contributing to making the Sustainable Development Goals a reality for all. Venice is not only an event; it is an all-year process that brings partners together to develop narratives on how local governments can better contribute to Agenda 2030. 

In this fourth edition, we want to gather innovative solutions that local governments and their partners are already experimenting with and bringing into our streets. How cities are getting inspired by the SDGs, turning around old ways of doing things, and engaging citizens into local action. This year’s concept wants to “go to the point”, by offering a platform to share with us what our partners are doing differently, how they are using SDGs as a tool to transform the city.

The COVID 19 crisis has given us many reasons to RETHINK. And we need to RETHINK the city, as a place in constant transformation, because innovation happens in cities. This year, we want to find responses to some of these questions:

  • How are the SDGs guiding the action of Mayors and city practitioners?
  • How is Agenda 2030 influencing city planning and budgeting?
  • How are SDGs changing the way local governments plan and deliver services?
  • Is Agenda 2030 helping cities to innovate, how, and where?

Using different and interactive methodologies, each session will answer a series of questions and set the debate where the participants will jointly elaborate key messages and recommendations. Each session will showcase specific local experiences that are contributing to implementing the SDGs at the local level, but also show how SDGs are also transforming the way we think and rethink the city.

This year's conference will feature:

  1. GREEN TRAIL – PLANNING: USING SDGs TO PLAN CITIES. More and more cities are starting to include SDGs in their management systems. Mayors are creating SDG offices as programmatic focal points to coordinate their plan of actions, linking Agenda 2030 to the political mandate and beyond. As SDGs start to be integrated as local deliverables, they infiltrate the administration, making the criteria linked to sustainability more difficult to eliminate when a political change happens. This session will bring two cities that have already established an “SDG Delivery Office” to tell us the details about how they are doing it.
  2. RED TRAIL – SHARING IDEALS: THE ROLE OF CULTURE TO LOCALIZE THE SDGS. Culture is directed linked to all aspects of our everyday lives, be it art, literature, science, politics, lifestyle, etc. Our culture reflects our traditions and beliefs, impacting not only our ways of interacting but also of coexisting. However, at the same time that cultural aspects can connect people and communities, it can lead to conflicts and increase social exclusion. That is why development policies guided by a cultural component can create a sense of belonging, drive participation, and promote inclusion. In this sense, culture goes hand in hand with the SDG localization process. It can act as a vehicle to build social cohesion by reinforcing the SDG localization narrative on how to shape public policies based on the 2030 Agenda principles. Culture can help cities to raise awareness, nurture dialogues and facilitate mutual understanding, as well as provide access to knowledge and capacity building. This can generate a common understanding and place people’s priorities and needs at the center of sustainable development so that the aspirations of the 2030 Agenda can be translated into reality at the local level. Moreover, it can lead to the implementation of public policies and services that are sensitive to participatory processes, and at the same time, ensure that no one is left behind, by integrating and empowering minorities and excluded groups.
  3. YELLOW TRAIL – TRANSFORMING: A NEW SUSTAINABLE MOBILITY. The industry of electric vehicles is suffering an authentic revolution. We are used to hearing about electric cars, but in developing contexts, e-bikes and electric tuk-tuks are taking the place of cars as an affordable alternative for many workers. We want to share the innovations coming from the developing world, where the future is increasingly electric. Also, many cities have grown around a river. Water is a very important part of Agenda 2030 and we feel we have not sufficiently brought the importance of water in municipal action. This session wants to see how cities are using their waterways to promote more sustainable and inclusive urban mobility. In a city like Venice, where all transport happens via water, they have a millennial experience, what is happening in other contexts and how can our city rivers contribute to Agenda 2030?
  4. BLUE TRAIL – INCLUDING: ADDRESSING INEQUALITIES IN THE CITY. Keynes and Co. used to talk about the role of the state to intervene in situations where the market was not working properly. The city is also an economic market where goods and services are exchanged within territorial borders. How are municipalities around the world are playing a role in this market? And how specifically are they using their action to promote equal opportunities? Many cities intervene in providing social services to those who are unable to pay for those services but also give an added value to the collectivity, by taking individual actions and creating value out of acting together.

Venice City Solutions is the sum of efforts by its organizers. Our Italian host is AICCRE, who also keeps the event alive and brings together all our partners in Venice. The event is also co-organized by United Cities and Local Governments, the major network of cities and two UN agencies: the United Nations Development Programme and UN-Habitat, together with the UN SDG Action Campaign, which promotes Agenda 2030 on behalf of the whole UN system.

Learn more about the 2021 sessions in the attached concept note and here: https://venicecitysolutions.com/

ClimateSmart Cities Assessment Framework: India’s innovative subnational climate reporting initiative
Join UrbanShift to learn about India’s pioneering subnational reporting initiative, the ClimateSmart Cities Assessment Framework (CSCAF), and how Indian cities are mainstreaming climate action within urban development activities while advancing their smart city strategies. 

ClimateSmart Cities Assessment Framework: India’s innovative subnational climate reporting initiative

November 24, 2021 at 10:00 CET / 14:30 IST / 16:00 WIB / 17:00 CST | Register here

Join UrbanShift to learn about India’s pioneering subnational reporting initiative, the ClimateSmart Cities Assessment Framework (CSCAF), and how Indian cities are mainstreaming climate action within urban development activities while advancing their smart city strategies.

We will hear from several key stakeholders (national, subnational and civil society) on the conceptualization and implementation of the CSCAF and the ways in which this framework is revolutionizing subnational climate reporting in India. An international perspective on subnational climate reporting will frame the discussion.

Contact: Evgenia Mitroliou, ICLEI World Secretariat ()

Revisiting Urban Local Governance in South Asia: Lessons from the Pandemic for Furthering Resilience
The Scaling City Institutions for India Sanitation initiative at the Center for Policy Research (CPR) conducted a study to understand the specific vulnerabilities of the urban poor in the context of past pandemics and during COVID-19 in order to craft specific urban governance recommendations to build greater resilience in cities in South Asia and India. Their research covered primary surveys in 10 cities/towns in India that were selected to ensure representation of various geographical regions, urban settlement sizes, densities and economic activities. It also reviewed press coverage and other secondary sources from India, Bangladesh, Myanmar and Nepal. Their findings indicate a need to build urban resilience through sixteen actions across three broad areas, which are (a) Building urban resilience through integrated planning; (b) Attenuate Formal Vs Informal categories to universalize access to public services; (c) Enable legal reforms and revisit governance responsibilities, scales and interfaces.

Expert's Corner: Exploring Impacts and Institutional Responses to COVID-19: "Revisiting Urban Local Governance in South Asia: Lessons from the Pandemic for Furthering Resilience" with CPR

Date and Time: 17 November 2021 | 8-9 AM Eastern Standard Time (EST)

Description:

As part of Expert’s Corner, an initiative to have external experts share their insights with UNDP, the Governance Community of Practice is collaborating with the Crisis Bureau’s Conflict Prevention, Peacebuilding and Responsive Institutions (CPPRI) team to deliver a series of events on the theme of “Exploring Impacts and Institutional Responses to COVID-19”. Four events, delivered in partnership with leading researchers in the field, are taking place throughout November and early December. They will communicate evidence from large-scale comparative analysis on the impacts of and institutional responses to COVID-19, whilst also reflecting on implications for UNDP policy and programming.

This third event of the series will focus on “Revisiting Urban Local Governance in South Asia: Lessons from the Pandemic for Furthering Resilience” and will take place on 17 November 2021 from 8.00 to 9.00 am EST. The Scaling City Institutions for India Sanitation initiative at the Center for Policy Research (CPR) conducted a study to understand the specific vulnerabilities of the urban poor in the context of past pandemics and during COVID-19 in order to craft specific urban governance recommendations to build greater resilience in cities in South Asia and India. Their research covered primary surveys in 10 cities/towns in India that were selected to ensure representation of various geographical regions, urban settlement sizes, densities, and economic activities. It also reviewed press coverage and other secondary sources from India, Bangladesh, Myanmar, and Nepal. Their findings indicate a need to build urban resilience through sixteen actions across three broad areas, which are (a) Building urban resilience through integrated planning; (b) Attenuate Formal Vs Informal categories to universalize access to public services; (c) Enable legal reforms and revisit governance responsibilities, scales, and interfaces.

Register here

Cities on the Frontline Speaker Series #19 Migration and Resilience, the MOVE book
In the framework of The 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26), this 19th session of Cities on the Frontline, jointly organized by Resilient Cities Network and the World Bank“Migration and Resilience”, with a special look into the MOVE book will focus on the inevitability and the necessity of migration by discussing its history, its current challenges exacerbated by the pandemic and its future as a key component to building a more resilient and sustainable future. 

Webinar: Cities on the Frontline Speaker Series #19 Migration and Resilience, the MOVE book

Date and Time: Thursday, November 11, 2021 | 8-9 AM Eastern Standard Time (EST) |

Register here

Event Summary Historically, migration has been an intrinsic part of how humans navigate the world, however, skewed perceptions and misinformation have shed a negative light on the topic resulting in abrasive migration policies around the world. While migration may present certain challenges, it has also proven to be, not only important to the development of communities, but essential. Migration time and time again has resulted in poverty alleviation, strengthening of social capital, boosting of the working age population, and transferring of knowledge and skills, among other positive benefits. As we build resilience moving forward from the COVID-19 pandemic and in anticipation of future climate and political crises, cities have a key role to play in implementing policies to protect the rights of migrants and to shift the conversation on migration. Featured Event Speakers The session will feature Parag Khanna, Author of the MOVE book and other bestselling books, Managing Partner at FutureMap, Strategic Advisor to Governments and Global Companies, and TED Speaker, who will introduce the topic with a presentation on the vital importance of migration for healthy and vibrant communities according to the findings of his book. Parag will then present a brief overview of the history and future of migration and will end his intervention with expected trends and most likely scenarios based on anticipated climate and economic challenges. We will also welcome David Groisman, Chief Resilience Officer and Director of Management Exchange at the Government of Buenos Aires (Argentina) who will complement Parag´s presentation by bringing the perspective of a city facing migration challenges to the table. David will share the work the city has done to explore and define opportunities within migration to maximize its potential benefits in support of the development of the city. David will also give a look into how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted mobility patterns, regulations, and restrictions and the steps that the city will take to build resilience in response to COVID-19 and in anticipation of future shocks and stresses.

Cities on the Frontline is a virtual thought leadership speaker series. The series, which began in 2024 co-organized by the Resilient Cities Network and the World Bank Group’s City Resilience Program, provides city practitioners and the industries and residents that they support, an understanding and means for responding to the pandemic and associated stresses, as well as solutions for planning towards a more resilient recovery.

Access previous sessions here

For questions, please contact: 

10th Asia Smart City Conference: Building smart cities aiming for carbon neutrality through city to city collaboration under the influence of COVID-19

The 10th Asia Smart City Conference

Dates: 26-28 October 2021

Location: Virtual

Register here 

The Asia Smart City Conference (ASCC) is an international conference that brings together representatives from Asian cities, national governments, international organizations, academic institutions, and private companies, aiming at establishing a knowledge hub for Smart Cities. At this conference, representatives from cities will share their vision for growth as well as their current challenges and needs; private companies and academic institutions will propose innovative solutions; international organizations will offer programs to support efforts by cities and private companies; and various best practices from around the world will be shared. Furthermore, we offer an occasion for participants to find new business opportunities.

We would like to announce that this year’s theme for the 10th ASCC is “Building smart cities aiming for carbon neutrality through city to city collaboration under the influence of COVID-19.” Together with the World Bank Tokyo Development Learning Center (TDLC) and the Asian Development Bank Institute (ADBI), the event provided a venue to discover new business opportunities for private companies located in Yokohama, allowing them to promote their technologies for cities in emerging economies. Due to COVID-19, this year’s ASCC will be held for three days featuring main online events broadcasting from the GALERIO which is a new knowledge hub of Y-PORT CENTER.

Learn more about the schedule and event details here: https://yport.city.yokohama.lg.jp/en/city-promotion/asia-smart-city-conference-ascc-2

State of Climate Action 2021
Combatting the climate crisis requires society to rapidly transform all the systems that propel our economy, including power generation, buildings, industry, transport, land use and more. But by how much? And how can decision-makers make it happen?

State of Climate Action 2021

October 28, 2021 | 9:00 am - 10:15 am EDT | Online | Register here

Combatting the climate crisis requires society to rapidly transform all the systems that propel our economy, including power generation, buildings, industry, transport, land use, and more. But by how much? And how can decision-makers make it happen?

Join the World Resources Institute (WRI) on October 28 for a high-level launch event for the State of Climate Action 2021 report, which will answer these fundamental questions. Developed by partners contributing to the Systems Change Lab, the report identifies 40 indicators across key sectors that must transform to address the climate crisis and assesses how current trends stack up against targets for 2030 and 2050 to limit warming to 1.5 degrees C. The analysis will highlight both encouraging bright spots that are witnessing exponential change as well as sectors that are well off track and demand urgent attention.

Coming out just before the G20 Summit and the COP26 climate summit, the State of Climate Action 2021 report will arm countries, businesses, philanthropists, and others with a clear-eyed view of where we stand sector-by-sector, and what supportive measures and finance are necessary to accelerate the world toward a safer, prosperous and more equitable future.

Speakers:

  • Andrew Steer, President and CEO, Bezos Earth Fund (moderator)
  • Nigel Topping, United Nations High-Level Climate Champion
  • Naoko Ishii, Executive Vice President, University of Tokyo Center for Global Commons
  • Ani Dasgupta, President and CEO, World Resources Institute
  • Surabi Menon, VP, Global Intelligence, ClimateWorks Foundation
  • Niklas Höhne, Partner, New Climate Institute
  • Sophie Boehm, Research Analyst, World Resources Institute
GPSC Webinar Series: Bringing Nature to Cities - Cities Working with Nature to Improve Resilience and Urban Life
The World Bank’s webinar series “Bringing Nature to Cities: Integrated Urban Solutions to Biodiversity Loss and Climate Change” will promote integrated urban solutions for cities to tackle biodiversity loss and climate change.

GPSC Webinar Series: Bringing Nature to Cities. Cities Working with Nature to Improve Resilience and Urban Life

Date and Time: Wednesday, 20 October 2021 | 8:30 AM - 9:45 AM Eastern Standard Time (EST)

Register here: https://worldbankgroup.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_7bgbo29-RZqHE-tk1aR3bA

Co-hosted by the Global Platform for Sustainable Cities (GPSC) and the Global Program on Nature-Based Solutions for Climate Resilience, the series of thematic events will provide an online knowledge exchange platform connecting policymakers, practitioners, and experts to further mainstream biodiversity considerations into cities and development projects.

The session will illustrate how cities around the world are restoring nature back into the city to improve livability, health, sustainability, climate resilience, and overall well-being.

The session will showcase two global initiatives supported by international organizations, BiodiverCities by 2030 Initiative and CitiesWithNature - RegionsWithNature Partnership Initiative, followed by a brief pitch presentation showcasing practices and examples of how cities around the world are working with nature to deal with everyday urban challenges to make nature a central part of the urban landscape and help urban communities live in harmony with nature.

These presentations will focus on urban biodiversity and sustainable economy, citizen science, climate resilience, and human health and well-being (focusing on inequality and social cohesion). An interactive panel discussion will follow the presentations.

Second International Forum on Urban-Rural Linkages (IFURL 2)

The International Forum on Urban-Rural Linkages (IFURL) is one of the key activities of the UN-Habitat Urban-Rural Linkages programme which includes, capturing, analyzing, and promoting the inspiring practices implemented in rural Songyang County among other territories in the world.

Second International Forum on Urban-Rural Linkages (IFURL 2)

Theme: Integrating health and territorial development for sustainable livelihoods

Date and Time: 19th – 20th October 2021

Location: Lishui City, Zhejiang Province, China 

Format: In-person and Hybrid

Registration Link: https://urbanpolicyplatform.org/ifurl2/#x-content-band-9

Zoom Link: https://zoom.us/j/84840676017?pwd=ZnVBNi9TWTFvRjlPZnRCQ0ptVWpUZz09

Meeting Code: 848 4067 6017 | Meeting Password: 20211020

Join us for the 2nd International on Urban-Rural Linkages, "Integrating Health and Territorial Development for Sustainable Livelihoods"! 

The Forum will take place on 19th-20th of October 2021, co-organized by UN-Habitat, Zhejiang Provincial Department of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, Health Commission of Zhejiang Province, Lishui Municipal People’s Government, Songyang County People’s Government.

The theme of this year’s forum is “Integrating Health and Territorial Development for Sustainable Livelihoods”. This event will also contribute to the Urban October Celebration.

Learn more about the programme agenda, speakers, and event background here: https://urbanpolicyplatform.org/ifurl2/#x-content-band-8 

Ghana Innovation Farm - Manni Group Design Award

One third of the population of the Global South practices agriculture in contexts that are highly suited to such activity.

Yet, despite a favorable climate and right soil conditions, it is precisely these peoples that obtain less value from the agri-food supply chain. This is because often the main causes of vulnerability are not natural but infrastructural. 

In order to guarantee sufficient nutriment, both production aspects and the possibility to preserve food or food resources play a crucial role. 

The cold chain is one of the core issues of the global nutrition challenge. InspiraFarms is well aware of that. For more than 10 years, it has been at the forefront in promoting technological development and dissemination together with the construction of facilities able to stabilize and preserve food produced in emerging countries. 

Consistently with the United Nations goals, in one of the emerging African agricultural scenarios, InspiraFarms is about to build a technological and cultural hub to address the global challenges of food supply chains. It will generate a greater availability of products and job opportunities in a place where more than 25% of the local population live below the poverty line.   

In this hub, a system of infrastructures and a training center will share with the local population knowledge and technologies to meet their needs. This will be achieved by developing strategies to make their activities more competitive and seeking new ways to create jobs and opportunities especially for young women and segments of the population facing higher risks. 

This is the goal of Ghana Innovation Farm It is the third edition of the Manni Group  Design Award, which is InspiraFarms’ ally for the creation of a beacon of culture and innovation. It shall become a reference for the local community providing resources, knowledge, and solutions able to meet the most basic of human rights: access to food.  

Manni Group  and YAC thank all the architects who will take part in this challenge.

More information https://www.youngarchitectscompetitions.com/competition/ghana-innovation-farm