the urban lens: an accelerator of poverty eradication and ... · the multi-dimensional and...

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Theurbanlens:Anacceleratorofpovertyeradicationandprosperity

Interconnectedapproachestoaddresspoverty,hunger,healthandwell-being,genderequality,resilientinfrastructureandinnovation

SideeventontheoccasionoftheUNHighLevelPoliticalForum13July2017|18:15-19:30|UnitedNations,ConferenceRoom6,ConferenceBuilding,NewYork

Panel

Mr.JanvanZanen-MayorofUtrechtandPresidentofVNG,onbehalfoftheGlobalTaskForceofLocalandRegionalGovernments

Mr.NicolaSperanza-ChiefofInternationalRelations,MinistryofCities,GovernmentofBrazil

Mrs.MoaHerrgardandMr.HirotakaKoike-DeputyOrganisingPartners,UNMajorGroupforChildrenandYouth

Mr.AniruddhaDasgupta-GlobalDirector,WorldResourcesInstituteRossCenterforSustainableCities

Mrs.RaquelLudermir-ManagerofSueloUrbano.org,HabitatforHumanityInternational(LACSection)

Dr.RobertPNdugwa-HeadGlobalUrbanObservatoryUnit,UNHabitat

Moderator:Mrs.MaruxaCardama,UrbanAdviser,CitiesAllianceSecretariat

Background

Inanincreasinglyurbanworld,cities–thosewhogovern,liveandworkinthem–haveanimportantroletoplayineradicatingpovertyandfosteringequitableprosperityforpeopleandplanet.Asmorepeoplemigrateto cities in search of a better life and urban populations grow, the challenges and opportunities of a 21stcentury urbanworld as reflected in SDGs 1, 2, 3 5 and 9 are characterisedby livelihood creation, poverty,inequality,informality,basicservices,connectivity,airpollutionandinterdependenturbanandruralareas.

The challengesaremanifoldand interconnected.Despite themassivewealthandvaluegenerated in cities,roughlyonequarteroftheworld’surbanpopulation–almost900millionpeople–livesandworksinslums.Thisestimatedoesnotincludepeopleininadequateorunaffordablehousing(definedascostingmorethan30per cent of total monthly household income). It does not reflect either how women and men suffer theconsequences in differentways - leading to exclusion and lost opportunity for bothwomen and society ingeneral.Inallcities,highinequality–bothincomeandopportunity–threatenseconomicgrowthandhumandevelopment.Low-incomeandsecondarycitiesareunabletoattractinvestmentnecessaryforinfrastructuredevelopment,jobcreation,productivity,innovationandenvironmentalsustainability.Revenuesincitiesoften

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remain low and unpredictable, undermining the ability to support the well-being of a healthy, skilled andproductiveworkforce.Theinabilitytoprovideeconomicopportunitytogrowingurbanpopulationshasledtowidespreadinformality.Inmostdevelopingregions,informalemploymentrepresentsmorethanhalfofnon-agriculturalemployment.Aspopulationgrowthoutpacesavailableland,citiesexpandfarbeyondtheirformaladministrativeboundaries,andtheydo itnotonly indevelopingregions.Unfortunately,a lowvaluefortheratioof landconsumption to thepopulationgrowthisnotnecessarilyan indication thaturbandwellersarefaringwell, as this can indicate a prevalence of overcrowded slums.In 2014, around half the global urbanpopulationwasexposedtoairpollution levelsat least2.5timeshigherthanmaximumstandardssetbytheWorldHealthOrganization.Thischallengetohumanandenvironmentalhealthcausesillnessandmillionsofprematuredeathsannuallyanditalsoaggravatesclimatechange.

However, over the past decade, the statement that “cities are the engines of economic growth” has beenoftenrepeatedandthatisbecauseforeachofthesechallenges,theurbanlensoffersopportunities.Weknowthat improved access to public goods and services generally benefits the poor. We also know that itstrengthensthefundamentalprerequisitesforgrowthandproductivity,enablingeconomiesofagglomerationand scale. Widespread access to public goods, transport and services, including to social services such aseducation,isdeterminantofpovertyeradication,equitableprosperity,theempowermentofwomenandgirlsandhumanandenvironmentalhealth.Publicspaceisessentialtothelivelihoodsandproductivityofinformalworkers; aswell as to thehealth,well-beingand safetyof communities.Urbanand territorialplanning canenable the interconnections between population dynamics, labour markets, infrastructure needs, publictransport access, gender responsiveness, food security, resource-saving and climate and environmentallyfriendly development and ultimately equitable livelihoods and prosperity. The interdependencies betweenruralandurbanareasbecomeparticularlyapparentinregardtomigrationmovements,multi-locallivelihoods,ecosystem services; as well as increasing flows of goods, resources, capital and information. Here againbalanced integrated urban and territorial planning from a functional and systemic perspective, beyondadministrativeboundaries,isaparamounttooltoachievemutually-reinforcingurbanrurallinkages.

Whetherornot theconvergent implementationofSDGscontributes toaddressingmajorhumanchallengesdependstoagreatextentonplanning, implementationandmonitoringstrategiesthathaveintegrationandinterlinkagesasfoundations.The2030Agenda,aswellastheParisClimateChangeAgreementandtheNewUrbanAgendashouldmarkthepoliticalwillforsustainablehumandevelopmentembeddedinintegratedandinterlinked approaches. Themulti-dimensional and interconnected challenges and opportunities, aswell asthe multi-stakeholder partnerships so inherent to cities are key vectors for accelerating the integratedimplementationoftheSDGsthroughmulti-scaleandcross-sectoralsolutions.

Sideeventoutcomes:Questionsaddressedandtopicsraisedduringthedebate

Thediversemulti-stakeholderpanelsharedviewsonthefollowingkeyquestions:

- How does the urban lens support policy coherence and cross-sectoral approaches to accelerate theimplementationofSDGs1,2,3,5and9andotherglobalagendassuchasNewUrbanAgendaandtheSendai Framework? What are the key elements of enabling institutional, policy and financialframeworksforthis?

- Whatdo interventions incities teachusaboutparticipatoryapproaches,particularly for thepooranddisadvantaged?Andaboutmulti-stakeholderpartnerships?

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- What can the urban lens do to support data disaggregation, qualitative approaches to metrics andcitizen-drivendata?

- What ismissing in termsofmeansof implementationandmonitoringmechanismstounleashthe fullpotentialoftheurbanlens?

Mainpointsraisedbythepanelincluded:• TheSDGsaremultidimensionalandcross-cutting.SDG11isnottheonlySDGthatrelatestocities.Ifcities

donotworkfortheirpeople–andhenceforthetransformationaltargetsincludedinmanyotherSDGS–thencitiesaresimplybrokenandnotworking.Forcitiestosucceed,theymustworkacrossallsectorsoftheircommunitiesandforeverybody.SDGs1,2,3,5and9underreviewatthe2017HLPFarecloselytiedtocities.Addressingurbanissuesrequirescoherenceandhenceacross-cuttingurbanlensacrossallSDGscanfacilitatepolicycoherence.

• Theareaofdisasterriskreductionisanimportantexampleofathematicareawithclearimpactoncitieswhoseplanningmechanismsoftentimesarenotsufficientlyanchoredinlocalcontexts.Fromadifferentyet complementary perspective, local and territorial development strategies should also encompassdisasterriskreductionconsiderations.

• TheMinisterofCitiesandtheNationalCouncilforCitiesofBrazilareexamplesofinstitutionalframeworksgearedatenablingpublicpolicycoherenceacrosstheboard,aswellasnational frameworkstoaddressurbanmatters.

• Themagnitudeofinvestmentinurbaninfrastructurethatwillberequiredoverthenext15yearstoservean increasing urban population cannot be underestimated and will require new modalities ofintergovernmentaltransfer,aswellasofcollaborationbetweenthepublicandprivatesectors.

• Citieshavetheabilitytobemoreflexibleandescapethemoreformalstructuresofnationalgovernmentstoaddressthechallengesfacedbytheircommunitiesandmaximisethepotentialofopportunities.Citiescan often timeswitness practical arrangements betweenneighborhoods groups and the private sectorthatwouldnotbeachievablewithsimilarflexibilityatnationallevel.

• AcceleratingtheimplementationofallSDGswithpolicycoherenceandcross-sectoralapproacheswillnothappen without: the inspiration and passion of people, ownership of the SDGs at the local level,awarenessofcriticalenablersandbarriers for implementationand the fullengagementof sub-nationalgovernmentsandcivilsociety.

• National governments and national institutional, policy and financial frameworks should support andenable the SDGs implementationwork that is already takingplace at local level drivenby sub-nationalgovernments. The importance of financial support and fiscal transfers commensurate with theimplementationresponsibilitiesofsub-nationalgovernmentscannotbesufficientlyunderscored.

• Sub-nationalgovernmentnetworksaredevelopingglobal,regionalandnationalsystemsof“localisation”tocontributetoawarenessraising,alignmentofworkplans,learningexchangeandlocalmonitoringandreporting.

• Following themodel of theNational Voluntary Reviews presented byUNMember States, sub-nationalgovernment networks have undertaken a global initiative assessing the level of involvement of theirconstituency in themonitoring process. Under the coordination of the Global Task Force of Local andRegionalGovernments,thishascrystallisedintheReportofLocalandRegionalGovernmentstothe2017HLPF on the Way towards the Localisation of the SDGs. There are around 400.000 subnationalgovernments in the countries that are presenting Voluntary National Reviews in the 2017 HLPF,

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representing over 5.2 billion people. If adequate resources, competencies and ownership are ensured,theirabilitytoreachlocalcommunities,playacatalyticroleinlocaldevelopmentandprovidemanyofthebasicservicesandrightsrelatedtothe17Goalswillbeenormous.Yet,atthemomentonly37ofthe63nationalreportsanalysedmentionsub-nationalgovernmentparticipationinmonitoringmechanisms.

• Urbanlabsanchoredinmulti-stakeholderpartnershipsanddirectengagementofcivilsocietyarebringingexcellentresults,forinstanceinLatinAmericainareassuchasimprovingaccesstohousingordesigningrentalhousingprogram.

• Policycoherencecannotbeachievedwithoutdatacoherence.Whenlookingatcities,datacollectionisaprocessoflearningaboutrightsandidentifyingwhoisleftout.

• Territorial disaggregation of data and indicators relevant to local contexts in complement to globalindicatorsareessentialfactorsfordatacoherence.

• The work towards global indicators for urban matters faces specific challenges such as for instanceunderstanding and agreeing on where does the urban space start and end or how do we measureaccessibilitytopublicspaceindifferentculturalcontexts.

• Theadagio“notonesizefitsall”isparticularlyrelevanttomonitoringmechanismsandmetricsforcities.The City Prosperity Initiative (CPI) elaborated by UN-Habitat to support national and subnationalgovernmentsintheirmonitoringeffortsisbasedontheunderstandingthatproblemsandprioritiesvarydramaticallyfromonecitytoanother.Withaholisticapproachonthebasisof72indicators,theCPIcanhelp track how different factors are interacting, identify what specific areas are presenting issues andisolatepitfalls.

Therichdiscussionbetweenpanelistsandparticipantstoucheduponcriticaltopicssuchas:• The complementarity between the 2030 Agenda as the global agenda for sustainable human

developmentandtheNewUrbanAgendaasathematicframework.• TheneedtoinvigoratepoliticalmomentumaroundtheimplementationoftheNewUrbanAgenda.• Therisksofforcingsub-nationalgovernmentstore-inventthewheelfortheimplementationofthemany

different post-2015 frameworks (2030 Agenda, New Urban Agenda, Paris Climate Agreement, SendaiFramework)anddiscardtheirexperiences,successesandlessonsfromLocalAgenda21.

• TheessentialstepforwardbroughtbytheNewUrbanAgendaasaglobalaction-orientedframeworkthatrevisitsurbanchallengesandopportunitiesina21stcenturycontext.

• The centrality of informality, inequality and land to urban transformation and the nature of“interconnectorsacrossSDGs”ofthesethreeaspects.

• The need to dismantle negative narratives around informality and apply approaches that integrateinformalityintothecity.

• Theurgencyaroundresource-mobilisationandlong-terminvestment.• TheimperativeofimprovingcivilsocietyengagementintheSDGsimplementationandfollow-up&review

processese.• The shocking lack of reflections on localisation, territorial dimension of the 2030 Agenda and

interconnectionwithSDG11duringthefirstweekofofficialsessionsofthe2017HLPF.