The open-ended informal consultative meetings in New York, which brought together experts from all 10 Habitat III Policy Units, provided local and regional governments with an opportunity to share views on the New Urban Agenda with UN Member States in the run up to Habitat III in October.

From 25-29 April, the U. N. held five days of consultations on Habitat III in the final week before the release of the zero draft of the New Urban Agenda. The Global Taskforce was represented by nrg4SD, ICLEI and UCLG.

The consultations were an opportunity to discuss the conclusions of the Habitat III Policy Units and the regional and thematic meetings held over previous months. Member States heard from some of the 200 Policy Unit experts that have been working on specific aspects of the New Urban Agenda, including representatives of local governments who participated in the Policy Units, particularly Policy Unit 4 on Urban Governance, Capacity and Institutional Development co-led by UCLG/Global Taskforce and the London School of Economics (LSE Cities).

The week’s sessions were well-attended by Member States, who gave positive feedback on the leadership role that local governments will take in the implementation of the New Urban Agenda. There was broad consensus with the recommendations of the Policy Units, including Policy Unit 4.

L-R: Zione Ntaba, Judge, High Court, Malawi; Martin Grisel, Director, European Urban Knowledge Network; Fatimetou Mint Abdel Malick, President, Network of Local Elected Women of Africa; Philipp Rode, London School of Economics and Political Science; Moderator Emilia Saiz, Deputy Secretary General, United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG); Rod Regier, City of Kitchener, Canada; Anacláudia Rossbach, Cities Alliance; and Wicaksono Sarosa, Executive Director, Kemitraan-Habitat, Indonesia

There were more complex discussions on how to best reflect the call from citizens to reshape the relationship between urban residents and the state and to improve democratic accountability, and on the role that Right to the City should play in the New Urban Agenda.

Local and regional leaders will be back at UN Headquarters from 15-17 May 2016 for the first session of the Second World Assembly of Local and Regional Governments and the Habitat III Hearings to present the vision of our constituency on the zero draft of the New Urban Agenda.
More info:

Agenda of the Open Ended Consultative Meetings