1913 2013
16 | Centenary of the international municipal movement · Centenaire du mouvement municipal international · Centenario del movimiento municipal internacional
Unification Process within the International Municipal Movement The 1992 UN Rio de Janeiro Summit on Sustainable Development brought a new global dimension and recognition to local governments in general, and their international organizations in particular. IULA, FMCU, Metropolis and the Summit came together to create the G4 to serve the key topics such as “Local Agenda 21”, “Sustainable Cities”... of the UN’s Rio Agenda. The process of the unification of IULA, FMCU and Metropolis started in Istanbul in 1996 on the occasion of the UN Conference on Human settlements (Habitat II), also known as the Istanbul City Summit. Rio 1992
The end product of this lively Habitat II Conference was a comprehensive, democratic and decentralizing Habitat Agenda, which was approved by both assemblies: the assembly of the representatives of National Governments and the assembly of the representatives of local governments and civil society organisations. This marked a “first” in the history of the UN. Another “first” was the meeting of the World Assembly of Cities and Local Authorities (WACLA). The World Assembly... which served as a foundation for the future UCLG, brought together cities, local governments and their associations belonging to IULA, FMCU and Metropolis, from all over the world.
Habitat II-Istanbul 1996
Following the Istanbul World Assembly all three organisations started working together to create a “single strong voice” for the international municipal movement, which was happily realized at the 2004 Paris Founding Congress of UCLG. During this unification process IULA, FMCU and Metropolis undertook various joint initiatives and actions such as shared projects, meetings and representative activities. One of these undertakings of global importance was the joining of forces to participate in the Forum of Local Authorities for Social Inclusion, held within the framework of the World Social Forum (WSF).The Forum’s main purpose was: to mobilize local authorities throughout the world to occupy a political space and take up the role of implementing public and municipal policies that promote social inclusion and democratize wealth and power, to consolidate processes of participatory democracy and public / citizens control over the State, to generate consciousness of solidarity among the citizens of the world and to advocate the constitution of alternatives to the established unjust order.