Member States

Cities and Local Authorities

• © UNESCO
• Lamu Old Town (Kenya)
  World Heritage site (2001)

In a context of universal urbanization, UNESCO is providing local authorities with the fruits of decades of study, research and experience in the field.

Each of its spheres of competence is reflected in the concerns of the cities’ decision-makers, who are sometimes confronted with critical situations in education, culture, the natural sciences, the social sciences, or communication and information. Preserving historic centres without evicting their inhabitants, communicating, managing inadequate water resources, winning people over to sustainable development are all problems of local policy to be solved after consultation, with the overriding need to preserve resources for future generations ever borne in mind.