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NAIROBI 9 January 2020 - It is the final countdown to the Tenth Session of World Urban Forum (WUF10) which takes place in Abu Dhabi, capital of the United Arab Emirates from 8-13 February 2020. This is the first time an Arab Nation hosts the ... Read more
For the first time in our history, we are a majority urban species. It’s a statistic you’ve heard before, I’m sure, but its significance should not be so quickly overlooked.
Until recently, cities were far from the norm. Human populations have generally worked out a balance between their urban center and their complimentary rural hinterland. The denser city was a center for trade, government, and... Read more
An urbanization that fails to produce just job opportunities will have far-reaching consequences.
Cities are seen as beacons of prosperity the world over. Ironically, the same year that the global economy sunk into a deep recession, humanity at large became majority urban. As of 2008, over 50 per cent (link) of the world’s population was living in cities. The trend is far from its peak: The... Read more
In the last few years, the international community has made incredible strides towards addressing climate change and sustainability at a global level. Recently adopted international frameworks such as the 2015 Paris Agreement and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have set concrete targets to help the global community address the causes and... Read more
The Prime Minister was half-right yesterday when she said that building more houses every year will address the housing ‘crisis’. The last Budget promised 300,000, others have said 250,000, some have even suggested 400,000. Of course the Prime Minister and others are correct – there is a significant shortage of housing in England. It is, as she said yesterday, ‘one of the biggest barriers to... Read more
The three day gathering marks the first time cities rather than nations are offered a seat at the table of the U.N.'s top scientific authority on global warming
EDMONTON, Canada, March 4 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Climate scientists and city planners are to start charting a global roadmap on how cities can best battle climate change, when they gather at a U.N.-backed summit in Canada's... Read more
Cities are huge drivers of economic growth. They have a large share of the population, both public and private institutions and infrastructure.
In 2007, just 380 cities contributed half of global GDP. Researchers project that by 2025, 600 cities will account for 60 percent of global GDP. In contrast to years prior, many of these new hubs are located outside of the United States and Europe to the... Read more
On Tuesday, Germany's highest administrative court ruled that, in an effort to improve urban air quality, cities can ban cars from some streets.
As The New York Times notes, the ruling could open the floodgates for cities around the country to go car-free.
Stuttgart and Düsseldorf — German cities with high pollution levels — will likely enact the first bans in the fall. Stuttgart, home to... Read more
The World Water Forum is the largest meeting on water management and sanitation. Metropolis members are invited to join the International Conference of Local and Regional Authorities, which is co-organized by UCLG, ICLEI, the Global Water Operators’ Partnerships Alliance (GWOPA), the World Water Council and Brazilian partners, and will take place on March 20-21.
Xuemei Bai and colleagues call for long-term, cross-disciplinary studies to reduce carbon emissions and urban risks from global warming
Cities must address climate change. More than half of the world’s population is urban, and cities emit 75% of all carbon dioxide from energy use1. Meeting the target of the 2015 Paris climate agreement to keep warming well below 2° C above pre-industrial levels... Read more
There is broad global agreement that secure property rights help eradicate poverty and that securing women’s land rights reduces gender inequality. But our understanding remains strikingly limited when it comes to the extent to which women’s land rights are – or are not – secure and the impact of women’s tenure security (or lack thereof) on women’s empowerment.
This is true even in Africa, where... Read more