Five years after the agreement on the New Urban Agenda by Member-States, the first review on its implementation (Quito+5) will take place in New York from 26 to 28 April 2022, mandated by the UN General Assembly.
As we advance on accelerating localization, the Global Taskforce of Local and Regional Governments is putting efforts in drawing more attention to the New Urban Agenda as a critical building block for the achievement of the SDGs and sustainable, inclusive, fair and safer cities.
The World Assembly of Local and Regional Governments is the mechanism through which the local and regional government constituency has made its joint inputs to the Habitat II and III processes convened and facilitated by the Global Taskforce of Local and Regional Governments. Its recognition as a formal mechanism for the review and follow-up of the New Urban Agenda puts our constituency in a critical place to pledge for an enhanced role for local and regional governments in the implementation of the global agendas, but also to bringforward some of the key challenges faced for the monitoring and review of the implementation.
The convening of the World Assembly of Local and Regional Governments will focus on demonstrating the need to deepen the debate on the recognition of local and regional governments as formal actors and contribute to build a long-lasting partnership towards the localization of the universal development agendas.
The World Assembly of Local and Regional Governments will discuss progress and follow-up on the implementation of the global goals and the New Urban Agenda with the perspectives of the pandemic and peace in mind. It will present the priorities of the constituency with regard to the New Urban Agenda, the challenges of its implementation, and its relationship with other global agendas. It will be structured around three axes:
1. Local public service provision and the right to the city
2. Equality, finance, and green deals
3. Multilevel governance, intermediary cities and renewed planning models.
The World Assembly will take place as an entire-day activity. In the morning, it will include events focusing on advocacy and messages towards the High Level Meeting, a briefing on the deliberations of the UN Taskforce on the Future of Cities, and a special segment on the Right to the City. The official convening of the World Assembly taking place within the UN Headquarters held in the afternoon at 15:00 EST.
The High-Level Meeting of the General Assembly on the implementation of the New Urban Agenda will gather Member States, local and regional governments and stakeholders to review the progress on the implementation of the New Urban Agenda six-years since its adoption at the Habitat III Conference in Quito, Ecuador.
The High-Level Meeting will focus on four key areas of action that have been identified in the reports on progress submitted by all actors as well as in the preparation of the Quadrennial report of the Secretary-General on the New Urban Agenda:
1. Ending poverty and fighting inequalities, with a focus on affordable housing and access to basic services.
2. Boosting equitable and sustainable urban economies and predictable financing of sustainable urban development through innovative approaches.
3. Decoupling urbanization from environmental pollution and linking communities to data and finance to strengthen climate adaptation and resilience.
4. Promoting participatory urban planning approaches for effective and inclusive urban crisis response and prevention.
Additionally, the UN Regional Economic Commissions will deliver statements on their contribution to the implementation of the New Urban Agenda in delegations which include local and regional governments, such as Amman, Kuala Lumpur, Guatemala City, Alexandría, Harare, Esteban Echeverría.
- Read the programme here