Strengthening the New Urban Agenda to accelerate the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals

 

The High-Level Meeting on the implementation of the New Urban Agenda comes at a critical juncture for urban development. Africa and Asia are rapidly urbanizing, while urban populations in other parts of the world are stagnating or shrinking. All cities are faced with substantive challenges on how to ensure a livable future for urban residents in social, economic, and environmental terms. The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed systemic inequalities in cities everywhere, highlighted pre-existing urban challenges, created new vulnerabilities and pushed hundreds of millions of people back into poverty. Urban areas are also responsible for most of the global resource consumption and greenhouse-gas emissions, with a drastic disparity among levels of income. The world’s richest one percent create double the CO2 emissions of the world’s poorest 50%, who are most vulnerable to the effects of climate change.

Sustainable urban development has the potential to address or reverse many of these negative trends. The New Urban Agenda contains recommendations and commitments that can enable governments across the world to fight inequalities, achieve equitable low or net-zero urban transformations, and improve the quality of live for all.

And yet, the New Urban Agenda is poorly represented in the global discourse and receives little attention by member states and other relevant stakeholders. The High-Level Meeting, convened by the President of the General Assembly offers an opportunity for Member States to take stock of actions taken and put forward new commitments to revitalize the implementation of the New Urban Agenda.   

The High-Level Meeting in this way will build upon the cumulative actions and future commitments of governments as well as of local and non-State actors underscoring the importance of the New Urban Agenda as a catalyst for sustainable development.

About the meeting

Member States will gather in New York for the High-Level Meeting of the General Assembly on 28 April 2022 to review progress on the implementation of the New Urban Agenda six-years after its adoption at the Habitat III Conference in Quito, Ecuador.

The High-Level Meeting on the implementation of the New Urban Agenda will be action oriented. Member States, local and regional governments, and other constituencies of the New Urban Agenda such as professional associations, grassroots organizations, and business leaders will utilize the platform to highlight policy directions and programmatic initiatives they have been engaged in, and to put forward concrete commitments for the next two years.

The High-Level Meeting will focus on four key areas of action that have been identified in the reports on progress in the implementation of the New Urban Agenda submitted by Member States, the United Nations system, and by diverse partner networks for the preparation of the Quadrennial report of the Secretary-General:

  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.
Figure 1: A multipronged process strengthening the New Urban Agenda to accelerate the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals
Figure 1: A multipronged process strengthening the New Urban Agenda to accelerate the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals

The Urban Agenda Platform facilitates the sharing of experiences, best practices, and the establishment of alliances for increased action to achieve the SDGs and the transformative commitments of the New Urban Agenda in the coming decade. The platform supports knowledge exchange, builds interaction and supports capacity development tor sustainable urban development.


SG quadrennial report

SG quadrennial report

The quadrennial report of the Secretary-General on progress in the implementation of the New Urban Agenda, published 15 March 2022 

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The New Urban Agenda
Reference documents

National Reports on the Progress in the Implementation of the New Urban Agenda 

As part of its  follow-up and review mechanisms, the New Urban Agenda encourages Member States to carry out a periodic follow-up to and review of the New Urban Agenda. So far, 30 countries have submitted National Reports on the Progress in the Implementation of the New Urban Agenda, which are available on the Urban Agenda Platform. All reports available at the time of drafting were considered in the quadrennial report of the Secretary-General on progress in the implementation of the New Urban Agenda.

UN-Habitat Position Paper on the New Urban Agenda (NUA tomorrow_today_together)

ACTION FRAMEWORK FOR THE NEW URBAN AGENDA (Afinua)

1. Roadmap to a Just and Regenerative Recovery: Cover Note

2. Roadmap to a Just and Regenerative Recovery: Executive Summary

3. Roadmap to a Just and Regenerative Recovery: The Roadmap

4. Roadmap to a Just and Regenerative Recovery: Background Document

ECOSOC special event
Side events

Side events

A number of events are being organised as part of the roadmap towards the High-Level Meeting by the different constituents of the New Urban Agenda. These events may be limited in participation and may require an invitation. The complete list of side-events can be found under the file that is posted there first.

Programme of side events
Programme of side events

Concept notes: Core side events
1 - Second UN Round Table Floating Cities

3 - Roundtable Urban Resilience SIDS

4 - Special Event on Affordable Housing and Ending Homelessness

5 - World Assembly of Local and Regional Governments

6 - Road to Katowice - World Urban Forum

Information for participants

Information for participants

Information for participants

Statements by Member States and stakeholders
Statement by Mr Walter Cotte on behalf of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies

Webcast
Daily Journal
News and stories related to HLM
Other side events
1- The role of Innovation and Technology in accelerating Sustainable Urbanization

2- Call to Action on Sustainable Urbanisation across the Commonwealth

3- Water and Cities the role of public utilities

4- Interfaith Dialogue

5_9_12_13_15_18- Side Events on the Implementation of the New Urban Agenda 27 April Landmark Room Millennium

6- Urban Innovation and the Implementation of the New Urban Agenda.

7- High Level Bicycle Ride

8- Enhancing cooperation to end plastic and marine pollution

10- Vive Alameda Habitat 3 Urban Village Project Six Years Later

12- HLM Side Event Concept Note - SDG Cities Women Leadership Window

13- Inclusive Cities_Communities of Solidarity_ the role of local governments for leveraging human mobility

14- Advancing the NUA by building on the global momentum to reclaim streets for pedestrians and cyclists

16-_national_urban_policies_spain_and_latin_america_and_the_caribbean.pdf

17- The high quality of architecture and built environment in the context of the urban agenda

Time of the meeting