Urban future leading the development agenda

Brief summary “Urban Future Leading the Development Agenda” EUROPEAN DEVELOPMENT DAYS 2015 4 June 2015, Brussels (Belgium) _____________________________________________________________________________________ 2015 is a crucial year for development: it marks the end of the Millennium Development Goals and the shift towards the new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and respective targets, to be adopted in September 2015 by the General Assembly of the United Nations. At the same time, the European Union has declared 2015 as the “European Year for Development (EYD)” to raise awareness of development across Europe. In this context, the European Commission hosted European Development Days (EDD) on June 3-4, 2015 in Brussels, as a flagship event by showcasing the ways in which European Union Member States and citizens are contributing to the eradication of poverty and the promotion of human rights worldwide, through bringing together more than 400 organizations and thousands of policy makers and practioners from all around the world. This platform also offered an exceptional opportunity for the international community to put in place new development approaches through addressing the importance of tackling inequalities, ensuring peace and protecting environment.

This year, the EDD agenda, has included over 130 sessions on 12 themes with a variety of debates, brainstorming sessions and project/report presentations which were in line with the EYD motto: 'Our world, Our dignity, Our future'. A Lab debate entitled “Urban Future Leading the Development Agenda” has been organized under the main theme of “An urban world: challenges and opportunities”, with the aim of contributing to the creation of sustainable growth within the limits of our planet taking into consideration that over half of the world population lives today in urban areas and by 2030, the number of city dwellers is expected to reach 5 billion, and the number of big cities is expected to grow considerably, whereby 75% of them will be in developing world.

The Lab debate was jointly organized by the Committee of the Regions (CoR), the Diputació de Barcelona (DIBA), the Fonds special d’équipement et d’intervention intercommunale (FEICOM), the European Confederation of Junior Enterprises (JADE), PLATFORMA and the ART Initiative – Hub for Territorial Partnerships of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to discuss on the universal nature of opportunities and challenges emerging through rapid urbanization. To this end, the Lab debate has provided a big opportunity to address key questions as: How to link decentralization and sustainable urban development, notably in light of the universality of the post-2015 development agenda and the localizing of the future Sustainable Development Goals? How to integrate the urban and territorial agenda in the policies of all levels of authorities and make them cooperate? How can cooperation between Local and Regional Authorities (LRAs) contribute to the sustainable urban

development and strengthen LRAs capacities? How to favor inclusive local economic development (LED) at all levels and enable provision of wide range and high quality of basic services to the citizens worldwide?

The key to establishing the success of the SDGs, said Mr. Johannes Krassnitzer, ART Programme Specialist, UNDP, is establishing a sustainable and inclusive economic model that benefits citizens, the natural environment and cities. This relates not only to large, so-called 'mega cities', but also smaller, mid-sized cities, which make up the bulk of urban centers - currently, where the biggest capacity gaps are found. Mr. Krassnitzer added that it is important to target local economic development for these centers through connections with all levels of government, highlighting also the “innovation� aspect, which does not necessarily need to stay in the cities, taking into consideration that artificial distinctions and dichotomy between urban areas, and surrounding territories and rural areas are not valid anymore.

Local Economic Development (LED) promotes a comprehensive ground for inclusive, well-balanced and sustainable development and provides a framework for the generation, mobilization and promotion of resources: skills, knowledge, finance, as well as natural and cultural resources. It also creates an enabling environment for the collective work of the private sector, civil society, academia as well as the local and regional authorities. Mr. Krassnitzer underlined that LED is a tested mechanism, which has the proven tools, especially in Europe, that can be replicated in other territories, according to the local context. He stressed that social inclusion’s huge triggering role should not be overlooked and Social and Solidarity Economy (SSE), as an innovative way to shift informal economies to the formal ones, needs to be benefited more extensively.

The success of the SDGs depends on creating effective links between the SDGs and decentralized cooperation. According to Mr. Octavi de la Varga, Head of Office for European and International Strategy, Directorate for International Relations, Barcelona Provincial Council, it is about establishing a cooperative balance between cities, involving all stakeholders and including all levels of administration in cities and surrounding territories.

With urbanization set to continue globally over the next decades, many issues affect planning and development: employment, resource management, demographics and local services. Ultimately, the challenge for cities, noted Mr. de la Varga is to bring these issues together under the umbrella of good governance, and a need to move from a needs-based approach to a more strategic approach.

Issues related to local services, transport or housing within an urban center, as well as those related to its relationships with its hinterland and rural surroundings, cannot be sorted-out in isolation. Urban challenges can be best overcome by the application of integrated public policies and local governance.

“Governance is the key,” said Mr. de la Varga. “You have to take it into account when you relate to the hinterland and rural areas. This has consequences for people moving, for example. It is about how you manage your city, and how you relate to the surrounding areas, how you relate as politicians, as citizens within all levels of governance”. Clear public policies are also essential to formulate proper publicprivate partnerships, which need to meet the requirements of accountability and transparency.

Mr. Mário Tarouca, Director of Public Affairs of JADE, mentioned youth unemployment as one of the main risks ahead of the sustainable urban development agenda and stressed that it is crucial to create an enabling environment for gender-balanced job creation. Mr. Tarouca highlighted the shift in the ways of providing local services due to the change of generations in the labor force and in the information and communication technologies utilized respectively. In reference to the massive mobility of youth in between urban and rural areas and youth unemployment in general, he listed three crucial steps as ”bringing all the stakeholders together, learning from each other, replicating the best practices where possible”.

“Effective delivery and equitable access to basic social services is the most pressing challenge posed by urbanization” said Mr. Philippe Camille Akoa, Director General of FEICOM, as being a member of an organization financing municipal projects, through state funds, to promote territorial sustainable development and therefore, contributing to the achievement of the MDGs. This is true particularly in those social contexts, such as several African regions, where, as people look for a better quality of life, cities are stricken by mass population movements from the rural surroundings.

In this regard, FEICOM, whose interventions and financing are based on Cameroonian decentralization laws, works to facilitate access to basic services, therefore promoting balanced development and equilibrate financing. Consequently, this exercise entails a limitation in populations’ movement towards urban areas since it fosters local resources, therefore enhancing living standards in the rural areas, while contributing to the overall advancement of the MDGs at the local level.

“Public policies set the framework of action”, said Mr. Akoa, and are therefore essential for sustainable development practices, as well as for creating and promoting public-private partnerships. In this regard, FEICOM has developed financing mechanisms involving private partners aimed at fostering economic development processes at the territorial level.

“2015 is a critical year for development, since a new contract will be signed defining the post-2015 development agenda and the future SDGs”, said Mr. Krassnitzer. The new agenda is universal, involving issues overlooked in the past, such as inclusive and sustainable growth, peaceful societies, a stronger role for environmental sustainability, as well as governance issues, particularly with regards to the local level, including cities and urban areas. Local governance and local development, as well as decentralized cooperation practices will have a major role to play within the following fifteen years of development cooperation, since, acting at the citizen’s closest level, they have the potential to promote local stakeholders participation and to create inclusive partnerships between key actors of local relevance – both public and private. “This exercise is based on exchanging experiences and best practices among partners, looking at what works where”, said Mr. Krassnitzer, and it is particularly important in light of the challenges cities are currently facing. In this context, indicators and monitoring are essential to evaluate the development advances. For this reason, UNDP, together with the Global Task Force of Local and Regional Governments and other key partners, is currently launching the elaboration of a toolkit of mechanisms that looks at how local systems can facilitate the implementation of the future SDGs at the local level.

All around these comprehensive interventions and the interactive discussion with audience, some of the key messages that emerged from the debate were:  Post-2015 Development Agenda and how it will be implemented at all levels will have a significant impact on sustainable urban development.  Integrated and balanced urban and rural development approaches and respective public policies will facilitate the implementation of the SDGs and contribute drastically to overcome the widespread challenges of rapid urbanization.  Participatory, transformative and efficient multi-level governance systems are key for the longterm development of cities and surrounding territories.  Public-private partnerships are an effective method of supporting sustainable urban development.  While the consequences of urbanization are global, solutions can only be found with the full commitment of all territory actors.

For full record of the debate, please click here.

The Lab debate was jointly organized by the Committee of the Regions (CoR), the Diputació de Barcelona (DIBA), the Fonds special d’équipement et d’intervention intercommunale (FEICOM), the European Confederation of Junior Enterprises (JADE), PLATFORMA and the UNDP ART Initiative – Hub for Territorial Partnerships of the United Nations Development Programme