INTERNATIONAL
CALENDAR

         

Habitat 3 Side Event

Room MR7

Available languages: English, Spanish, French

Several large cities are the outgrowth of an urbanization trend associated with industrialization dating back to the 19th and 20th centuries. Several urban sectors in the heart of the city lie unused, but their vocation is destined to change in order to meet the need for renewed and diversified urban activities for economic and housing purposes. These sectors are in need of transformation.

In addition, the intention to provide a densification of urban activities associated with public transit infrastructures serves to favour public interventions, planning and investments aimed at transforming some of these sectors in order to better meet housing and employment needs.

These operations are the concrete expression of this movement and the challenges involved in rebuilding the city. The urban projects associated with these sectors undergoing transformation are the laboratory for the New Urban Agenda. They are the implementation sites for financing tools and partnerships focused on innovation.

These rebuilding operations make it possible to highlight existing public infrastructures (transportation, public facilities) while reducing urban expansion or sprawl. 

In order to achieve this, cities and governments, by means of urban planning and project management initiatives, must develop real‐estate and affordable housing strategies in connection with sustainable mobility. These planning and intervention initiatives are also closely associated with processes of public participation.

The cities of Montréal, Mexico City, Berlin, Brussels, Johannesburg and Seoul will demonstrate their respective initiatives geared to implementing the New Urban Agenda from an integrated planning perspective, with the presentation of projects and concrete cases. The various experiences may also serve as examples of how the New Urban Agenda is promoted, while taking into account cultural differences and the legal framework. The challenge is the same everywhere:

How do we provide sustainable living environments that meet the aspirations of citizens by stemming urban sprawl and transforming the urban setting taking into account the public transit network and adequate housing?

The issues of financing and public/private partnerships are also at the heart of the solutions, as are land control and the delivery of basic services (water, sewage) as well as public education and health services.

Objectives of this side event:

• Showcase a variety of practices relating to the management of rebuilding and the transformation of the city
• Present a set of concrete tools that can be adapted based on socio‐economic and cultural contexts
• Develop a network of cities invested in implementing the New Urban Agenda