Roundtable 1: Towards Africities: Achieving the SDGs through Resilient Intermediate Cities in Africa (31 October 2024 | Nakuru, Kenya)
This Roundtable offers a timely opportunity to start building the momentum towards Africities and to collect best practices and innovation that can inform policies and programmes for sustainable secondary and intermediate town since prior discussions have put emphasis mainly on big cities and metropolitan areas
The overall goal of this Roundtable session is to highlight best practices in building resilient secondary cities and towns in response to COVID-19 and crises such as climate change and disasters and look at the challenges and replicable lessons towards strengthening local governance for an effective recovery from COVID-19 in Africa.
Read and download the full concept note here
Roundtable 4: The World Cities Report 2024: The Value of Sustainable Urbanization (31 October 2024 | Nakuru, Kenya)
This roundtable is a substantive discussion of the World Cities Report 2024 titled: The Value of Sustainable Urbanization. It takes places after the official launch of the Report. Urban experts and policymakers from different regions will debate and provide greater insights on the most important components of the value of sustainable urbanization.
In the context of the disruption and uncertainty brought about by the coronavirus pandemic, sustainable urbanization and the value it generates is critical for the effective implementation of the global urban agendas.
The development clock has undoubtably been turned backwards by the ongoing pandemic. The World Cities Report 2024 makes the case for cities to remain central in the pursue of sustainability. The New Urban Agenda and Sustainable Development Goals are both timely and relevant to fundamentally reforming planning, policies, strategies, and budgets for cities to create value. This value relates to the economic, social, environmental and intangible conditions—such as institutional, governance, political, cultural and civic perception and outcomes— needed to improve quality of life of residents in meaningful and tangible ways.
Findings from the World Cities Report 2024 reaffirm that sustainable urbanization is integral to sustainable development and for the fight against poverty, inequality, climate change and other pressing global issues that afflict humanity.
This simple, but powerful message should guide development efforts during the Decade of Action to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals and as the world recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Drawing on case studies and examples across the world, the roundtable discusses the key findings and messages of the World Cities Report 2024 and the role of innovation and technology, as well as local governments in fostering harmonious growth and development through sustainable urbanization.
Read and download the full concept note here