The UN New Urban Agenda (2016) is the first document of its kind to enshrine the Right to the City principles and proposals. To a large extent, it can be considered an achievement of the mobilization and coordination between civil society organizations and local governments. In this sense, both the final text and the process that made it possible (including preparatory events, declarations, policy papers and other inputs) are part of a very important legacy that should be valued and built upon.
Five years on, the relevance of the Right to the City is more evident than ever, particularly in light of the impacts and possibilities opened by the COVID-19 pandemic. This event seeks to facilitate a dialogue between key actors involved in the mobilization around the right to the city to discuss how joint strategies can be developed and strengthened. Analysis and debates are expected to address pressuring concerns of the present moment, marked by inertia around NUA implementation, setbacks in regulatory and institutional frameworks, and the convergence of the crises linked to the increasing socio-spatial inequalities, the financialization of key goods and services and the climate emergency.
Objectives:
- Reinstating the importance of recognizing and implementing the right to the city for building more just, democratic and sustainable territories;
- Facilitating exchange and learning between different actors on joint strategies for its implementation;
- Highlight and make explicit the connections between the Right to the City, the New Urban Agenda, Human Rights obligations and other international agendas such as the 2030 Agenda and the Paris Agreement;
- Consolidate a joint agenda for action around the right to the city between civil society organizations and local and regional governments.
Programme
- Setting the scene: The Right to the City, the New Urban Agenda and alliance between LRGs and Civil society
- Emilia Saiz, Secretary General, UCLG
- Lorena Zárate, Global Platform for the Right to the City
- Opening remarks
- Luis Donaldo Colosio, Mayor of Monterrey
- Panel one: advancing on the Right to the City to face current crises
Moderation: Local and regional government representative
- Robert Robinson, International Alliance of Inhabitants – North America (6’)
- Rohey Malick Lowe, Mayor of Banjul
- Fernando Gray, Mayor of Esteban Echeverria
- Open floor
- Street vendors project
- Huairou Commission (TBC)
- Panel two: Strategies for advancing on the convergence between civil society and LRGs for accelerating the Right to the City through the localization of Global Agendas
Moderation: Nelson Saule Jr., Global Platform for the Right to the City
- Yousef Shawarbeh, Mayor of Amman
- Michael Cohen, The New School
- Luisa Bravo, The Journal of Public Space
- Open floor
- Thomas George, Global Lead for Urban, UNICEF
- Katherine Kline, General Assembly of Partners – Older Persons Group
- Closing – Adriana Allen, Habitat International Coalition