In the year 2010, the Spanish Ministry for Foreign Affairs expressed its financial commitment of EUR 6.8 million (approximately USD 9 million) to support the strengthening of UN‐Habitat’s substantive work in the strategic priority areas announced by the Executive Director.
UN-Habitat has identified specific entry points that will allow it to help its clients and partners cope more effectively with the rapid pace of urbanization and also maximize the benefits that come with it. The overarching goal of this global programme ‘Achieving Sustainable Urban Development’ (ASUD) is to increase UN-Habitat’s capacity to effectively support member states in achieving sustainable urbanization. This support will focus on the areas of planning, mobility, energy, governance and legislation, and economy and finance – all at the urban level.
The selection of these areas as strategic entry points is based on the new strategic direction and priorities, experiences from UN-Habitat field projects and results from global research on sustainable urban development. The same areas have also been prioritized in the UN-Habitat Country Programme Documents, developed jointly by national and local authorities in 32 countries.
ASUD is being piloted in five countries: Colombia, The Philippines, Mozambique, Egypt and Rwanda.
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Future Proofing Cities
Future Proofing Cities. Risks and opportunities for inclusive urban growth in developing countries
This groundbreaking report produced by UCL Developing Planning Unit (DPU) in collaboration with Atkins and DFID was launched last week and received wide media coverage. Assessing the environmental risks faced by 129 cities in 20 countries in the global south, the report examines a repertoire of over 100 policy options for cities to future proof themselves. The report emphasises that rather than pursuing best practices, cities in the global south need to design their own policy portfolios in the light of the specific risks they face, and their capacity to act.
The DPU team involved in this undertaking included Dr Adriana Allen, Dr Vanesa Castan Broto, Caren Levy and Linda Westman, who were responsible for providing strategic guidance throughout the development of the project’s analytical framework and for the production of five in-depth case studies that provide a nuanced exploration of the combined challenges and opportunities for future proofing urban development in Bangkok, Maputo, Bangalore, Karachi and Nairobi.
To find more about Future Proofing Cities, please visit: http://www.futureproofingcities.com/
To read about or listen to the press conference, visit:
http://blogs.ucl.ac.uk/dpublog/category/urban-planning/
To see some of the most recent media articles covering the report:
http://uk.reuters.com/article/2012/11/28/us-cities-environment-idUKBRE8AR0CF20121128
http://www.africanbusinessreview.co.za/business_leaders/a-call-to-developing-world-to-future-proof-cities
http://phys.org/news/2012-11-cities-storm-environmental.html