UNESCO supporting and participating in first World Conference on Development of Cities

What kind of cities do we want to live in? We will have a better idea at the close of the Conference to be held in Porto Alegre (Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil) from 13 to 16 February, which will bring together specialists from all over the world to reflect on the evolution of democratic process and social transformations in cities. Representatives from some 30 countries and 63 large cities are expected to attend, as well as a UNESCO delegation led by Pierre Sané, Assistant Director-General for Social and Human Sciences.

Entitled the “World Conference on Development of Cities: Democratic innovation and social transformations for inclusive cities for the 21st century”, the meeting is organized by the Porto Alegre City Hall, the Brazilian Ministry of Cities, the City Hall of Rome (Italy), the State Government of Rio Grande do Sul, and the National Confederation of Cities (Brazil). It has the support of not only UNESCO but also UN-HABITAT, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the World Bank.

The conference is centred on four main themes: Right to the City; Governance and Democracy in Cities; Analysis of Local Development in Cities; and Sustainability and the Network-City. A scientific committee has come up with a series of 40 key questions on the subject of development. Every day, participants will address at least 10 questions on one of the themes, developed by 21 specialists from a wide spectrum of Brazilian and international institutions.

Pierre Sané will open the work of the conference on 13 February and is moderating the first round table with UN-HABITAT Executive Director Anna Tibaijuka, on the topic of “Right to the City: Local policies on citizens’ rights and responsibilities”. At this time they will announce the results of a project undertaken by two United Nations agencies working on the issue since 2005. The results will form the basis of the first meeting of the international working group developing criteria for the international “Inclusive Cities” prize, supported by the cities of Porto Alegre, Rome, Barcelona and Incheon, under the auspices of the “Social Inclusion and Participative Democracy” Commission of the world association of United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG).

In workshops covering the same subject, two specialists who work for UNESCO in Brazil will give presentations on 13 February: Marlova Jovchelovitch Noleto (“Social Transformation: The construction of local policies challenge”) and Célio da Cunha (“Educating Cities: Invention and creation challenges”). On 16 February, Jurema Machado, Coordinator of Culture of UNESCO in Brazil, will take part in the panel discussion on “Sustainability and the Network-City”, presenting social protection networks for adolescents.

The conference is designed for the benefit of mayors, city councilors, public policy managers, academics, community leaders and all government and private sector actors with experience in urban democratic participation and in local urban development.
At UNESCO, the International Migrations and Multiculturalism programme, which carries out joint UNESCO and UN-HABITAT projects, has focused since 1996 on cities as areas of accelerated social transformations, in cooperation with the intergovernmental programme for the Management of Social Transformations (MOST). The programme has made significant contributions to capacity building and development of international comparative research networks in urban development, local governance and citizenship.

• Author(s):Media Advisory N°2008-09
• Source:UNESCOPRESS
• 04-02-2008