WUC SCM 10 Report - World Urban Campaign

DRAFT REPORT OF THE 10TH STEERING COMMITTEE MEETING
SUNDAY 6 APRIL 2014
PLAZA MAYOR, MEDELLIN, COLOMBIA
Executive Summary
The Steering Committee of the World Urban Campaign (WUC) met for its 10th meeting in Medellin,
Colombia, on 6 April 2014, before the Seventh World Urban Forum. Forty-three participants attended
the meeting (Annex A). The Standing Committee conducted its biannual elections, reviewed progress
to date, reconstituted several working groups and discussed future work.
Dr. Joan Clos, Executive Director, UN-Habitat, addressed the meeting. He emphasized the key role of
partners in the Seventh World Urban Forum and in helping shape the Habitat III process. Raf Tuts,
Coordinator, Urban Planning and Design Branch, UN-Habitat briefed the committee on the progress of
the Framework for a Post 2015 Agenda.
The major outcomes of the meeting were:
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The Steering Committee elected a new Chair, co-Chair and Standing Committee members to serve
from 2014-2016. They also created the position of Honorary Chair to serve from 2014-2016.
The Steering Committee welcomed new partners and emphasized the need to amplify
membership in the Associate Partner, Media Partner, and Sponsoring Partner categories
The Steering Committee agreed to establish a roadmap defining the partners’ role in the
preparation and execution of the Habitat III Conference in 2016.
The Steering Committee reconstituted its working groups to support both the Post-2015 Agenda
and the Habitat III preparations as follows: 1. Goals, Principles, and Targets; 2. Monitoring and
Indicators; 3. City Futures, Solutions, and Innovations; 4. Communications and Outreach; and 5.
Habitat III.
The Steering Committee called for enhanced inter-meeting communications in the form of a
bulletin or newsletter.
The following report has six parts:
1. Progress Report by the WUC Partners
2. Progress Report by the WUC Secretariat
3. Working Groups
4. The Post-2015 Agenda
5. Key Issues
- The City we Need and the Way forward
- National Urban Campaigns
- Communications Strategy
- World Urban Forum Schedule
6. Conclusion
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A.
INTRODUCTION
Chair Nicholas You opened the 10th World Urban Campaign Steering Committee meeting. The
Committee adopted the agenda. (See Annex B).
Elections
Mr. You proceeded with the election for the Chair, co-Chair and Standing Committee
Members of the World Urban Campaign Steering Committee for 2014-2016. He reported the
receipt and distribution of three letters of interest for the posts of Chair and Co-Chair:
Eugenie Birch, Co-Director University of Pennsylvania IUR; Shipra Nanang Suri, Vice President,
ISOCARP; and UCLG (no person named). He invited the candidates to address the Steering
Committee, expressing their objectives for the World Urban Campaign. Eugenie Birch
described her involvement as co-Chair in WUC since 2010 including her work on WUC
documents, in the Tools and Assessment Working Group and in the campaign for a standalone goal on sustainable cities and human settlements in the Framework for A Post-2015
Agenda. She concluded with three objectives as Chair: 1. To increase the visibility of WUC; 2.
To secure WUC’s active role in Habitat III; and 3. To increase transparent processes within the
Campaign. Shipra Nanang Suri described the ISOCARP’s contributions to WUC since its
beginning, and its involvement in The City We Need and “The Age of the City “initiatives. She
argued that her candidacy would bring knowledge, business, and intellectual leadership into
the platform. She also presented her candidacy as bringing in a truly global perspective and a
diverse group of voices into the table. As no representatives from United Cities and Local
Governments (UCLG were present, the Chair read the letter of intent that discussed UCLG’s
worldwide membership of local leaders and its networks of local and regional governments
and its efforts in promoting the new urban agenda through building strong partnerships.
After the candidate presentations, the Committee discussed election procedures questioning
the validity of voting for an unnamed candidate. They concluded that the WUC Terms of
Reference would permit this action. The Steering Committee also agreed to review and clarify
election procedures in the future.
The Chair called for the vote, noting that under the Terms of Reference only Lead Partners
were eligible to vote. The vote proceeded; the 27 Lead Partners votes were recorded as:
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For Chair
o Birch
o Nanang Suri
o UCLG
20
5
2
For Co-Chair
o Nanang Suri
o Birch
o UCLG
18
4
1
1 vote was nullified (illegible)
The Chair then moved to the Standing Committee elections noting that the Secretariat
received five letters of interest, submitted as specified by the WUC Terms of Reference that
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allocates seats to the official Habitat partner groups. Where Habitat has a formal partner
arrangement, the chair of the partner group or his/her designee serves on the Standing
Committee. Candidacies for the non-designated seats were: For Women: Huairou
Commission; for Local Authorities, two candidates, UCLG and Metropolis; for Trade Unions:
Building and Woodworkers International; for Civil Society: Habitat for Humanity. After
consultation, UCLG and Metropolis agreed to represent the Local Authorities group together.
The Partners elected following representatives to Standing Committee for 2014-2016:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
Academia: Habitat Partners University (designated seat)
Civil society Organizations: Habitat for Humanity
Local authorities: UCLG and Metropolis
Parliamentarians: Parliamentarians for Habitat (designated seat)
Private Sector: Urban Private Partners Board (designated seat)
Professionals: Habitat Professionals Forum (designated seat)
Trade Unions: Building and Wood Workers International
Women groups: Huairou Commission
Youth groups: Youth Advisory Board (designated seat)
Following the elections, Birch noted the work and accomplishments of her predecessor,
Nicholas You. She moved to name him Honorary Chair until the next Steering Committee
election. The Standing Committee responded with a vote of acclamation.
Address by Dr. Joan Clos
Dr. Joan Clos, Executive Director, UN-Habitat, welcomed WUC partners to Medellin and World
Forum7. He highlighted the city’s improvements in the recent past, emphasizing its
overcoming its reputation as the most dangerous city in the world. He noted its willingness to
invest in public goods, including construction of a metro (when the capital city Bogotá still
does not have one), the use of cable cars and escalators to connect many of the city’s
informal settlements to the metro, and associating this effort with a commitment to a broad
concept of education by locating libraries and kindergartens near the cable car stations. He
underlined the city’s innovative management of its municipal utilities companies that have
reaped the funds to support the public investments. While noting Medellin’s progress, he also
observed that it has ongoing challenges, including dealing with social stratification.
Bidding the WUC partners to study the city in all its complexity during WUF7, Dr. Clos asked
them to support the preparatory processes for Habitat III. He observed that as 3 billion people
urbanize in the near future, new business opportunities will arise but large challenges will also
emerge, especially if public and private decision-makers continue to follow current patterns.
He concluded by calling on partners to help fashion and implement a new urban agenda and
thanked them for their commitment to the WUC.
General Discussion
Several WUC partners said that they would like to receive a regular newsletter or bulletin to
update them on the Habitat III preparations and other matters of interest. Christine Platt
suggested that the first newsletter should be an overview of the Campaign, with future
newsletters discussing the details of the SDGs, etc.
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B.
PROGRESS REPORTS
1. The World Urban Campaign Partners1
Christine Auclair, Project Leader of the WUC, introduced several new partners: Consortium
for Sustainable Urbanization, CityNet, Citiscope, CSR Europe, CSR Wire, European Cyclists,
Federation FIABCI, FNAU, International Mayors Communication Center, Les Ateliers, People’s
Movement for Human Rights Learning (PDHRE), PFVT, and UBM’s Future Cities.
Several partners provided oral reports to supplement written reports submitted earlier by
other partners. They were: Commonwealth Association of Planners, Practical Action, Habitat
Professional Forum, Huairou Commission, World Future Council, City Builders, EcoCity
Builders, Habitat for Humanity, WIEGO, Josslyn Castle Institute, and Slum Dwellers
International. Christine Auclair requested that partners who have not submitted their written
reports do so as soon as possible.
The newly elected Habitat Professional Forum chair, Ismael Fernandez, introduced HPF’s new
research initiative, “The Age of Cities,“ an analysis of 10,000 years of urban life. The IFLA,
ICTP, UPSC, CAP and FIU associations are supporting this project. HPF will present the results
in the form of a formal report, illustrated book, and documentary film at Habitat III.
Full Partner Progress reports are included in Annex D.
2. The World Urban Campaign Secretariat
Christine Auclair presented the Secretariat’s half-yearly progress report for September 1,
2013 to March 31, 2014 (Annex C). During the period, the Secretariat coordinated the
development and launch of WUC’s vision statement, The City We Need, oversaw membership
growth and assumed management of the City Changer website.
Christine Auclair detailed the course of The City We Need project drafted in the fall of 2014.
She described its March 4, 2014 at the UN’s New York headquarters on March 4, 2014 that
featured speeches by Dr. Joan Clos, Executive Director, UN-Habitat; Michael Bloomberg, the
108th Mayor of New York City and current UN Special Envoy for Cities and Climate Change,
WUC partner representatives (Slum Dwellers International, Habitat for Humanity, Penn IUR)
and a short film. She observed that the well-attended event served as an important platform
for a soft launch of the Habitat III preparatory process.
Christine Auclair presented an up-to-date membership list, outlining the distribution of
members by category (Top Sponsor, Main Sponsor, Media Partner, Lead Partner, Associate
Partner and Member). She highlighted important gaps, notably in the number of Associate
Partner, Media Partner, and Top Sponsor groups.
On the matter of communications, Christine Auclair announced that, in addition to producing
the City We Need booklet and videos, the Campaign Secretariat is now managing the ‘I’m a
City Changer’ website, and continues to work with other UN-Habitat branches to develop
thematic WUC City Changer Toolkits (e.g. Gender City Changer toolkit).
1
For detailed reports, please see Annex D with all partner reports.
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Christine Auclair concluded her report with a list of proposed future WUC activities. Of
paramount importance, she emphasized are: 1. increasing awareness and recognition of
sustainable urban development by advancing and documenting innovative and/or replicable
solutions to contemporary urban issues; and 2. building on the momentum of publication of
The City We Need to elaborate a roadmap for WUC participation in Habitat III.
A Q&A session followed. Among the questions raised was a query about the role of other UN
entities dealing with urban issues. Christine Auclair responded that although several agencies
are working on the urban agenda, UN-Habitat is the focal point for urban development in the
UN system. She also observed that as a United Nations-sponsored conference Habitat III will
include all UN agencies. She noted that WUC itself includes other UN entities -- such as ILO.
Finally, she reported that UN-Habitat is working extensively with UNEP.
3. The Working Groups
The Steering Committee discussed the current status of the WUC Working Groups. Christine
Auclair explained their presence in the resources section of the WUC website, noting varying
levels of content. Partners observed that working group participation was variable, with some
more active than others. Ismael Fernandez Mejia proposed that the Committee refashion the
working group structure to meet the current initiatives especially the Framework for a Post
2015 Agenda and the upcoming Habitat III conference. The Steering Committee assented and
reconstituted the working groups as follows:
Working Group 1: Goals, Principles, and Targets
Chair: CAP (Christine Platt)
Rapporteur: World Future Council (Fiona Woo)
Members:
 ISOCARP (Shipra Narang Suri)
 IAU-Ile de France (Eric Huybrechts)
 Oxford Brookes University (Ramin Keivani)
 Practical Action (Lucy Stevens)
 MAS (Mary Rowe)
Working Group 2: Monitoring and Indicators
Chair/ rapporteur: Habitat for Humanity (Jane Katz)
Members:
 IAU-Ile de France (Eric Huybrechts)
 ICOMOS (Jeffrey Soule)
 AdP (Xavier Crepin)
 WIEGO (Alison Brown)
 Josslyn Institute for Sustainable Communities (Jay Leighter)
 Slum Dwellers International (Irene Karanja)
 Global Compact Cities Programme
Working Group 3: City Futures, Solutions, and Innovations
Chair: Habitat Professionals Forum (Ismael Fernandez Mejia)
Rapporteur: IFLA (Desiree Martinez)
Members:
 Ecocity Builders (Kirstin Miller)
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Josslyn Institute for Sustainable Communities (Jay Leighter)
Cordaid (Margriet Nieuwenhuis)
Huairou Commission (Lily Hutjes)
Global Urban Development (Nancy Weiss)
Fira de Barcelona
Working Group 4: Communication and Outreach
Chair: Citiscope (Neil Pierce)
Rapporteur: Nicholas You
Members:
 Penn IUR (Eugenie Birch)
 MAS (Mary Rowe)
 Ecocity Builders (Kirstin Miller)
Working Group 5: Habitat III
Chair: Penn IUR (Eugenie Birch)
Rapporteur: ISOCARP (Shipra Narang Suri)
Members:
 WIEGO (Alison Brown)
 UCLG (Emilia Saiz)
 IAURIF (Eric Huybrechts)
 Cordaid (Evert van Walsum and Margriet Nieuwenhuis)
 World Future Council (Fiona Woo and Stefan Schurig)
 GDF Suez
 Global Parliamentarians on Habitat (Hon. Peter Götz and Jerko Rosin)
 Habitat for Humanity (Jane Katz)
 World Vision International (Joyati Das)
 Huairou Commission (Lily Hutjes)
 UIA (Louise Cox and Albert Dubler)
 Youth Advisory Board (Lorenzo Casullo)
 University of Napoli (Luigi Fusco Girard)
 ENDA Rup (Malick Gaye)
 Global Urban Development (Marc Weiss)
 MAS (Mary Rowe)
 Metropolis (Helene Jourdan)
 Nicolas You
 Oxford Brookes University (Ramin Keivani)
 Practical Action (Lucy Stevens)
 Cities Alliance (Rene Peter Hohmann)
 Green World City (Sein Way Tan)
 ADP/HPF (Xavier Crépin)
 BWI (Jin Sook Lee)
 CAP (Christine Platt)
 SDI (Irene Karanja)
 Veolia Environnment (Pierre Victoria)
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The Partners discussed means of increasing communications within and among the Working
Groups between the half yearly WUC meetings. Eugenie Birch suggested that the new
working groups populate the Resources page on the Campaign website and urged the newly
established groups to coordinate and share their activities and events. Among the suggestions
were: creation of a group work-share account (e.g. Dropbox or other platform having worldwide access) and the use of conference calls or Skype. The Steering Committee also discussed
the possibility of a Working Group chairs’ meeting in New York City (or other central location)
in the fall of 2014.
C.
THE POST 2015 AGENDA PROCESS: IMPLICATIONS FOR HABITAT III AND
THE WORLD URBAN CAMPAIGN
The Steering Committee welcomed a special guest, Raf Tuts, Coordinator, Urban Planning and
Design Branch, UN-Habitat who briefed them on the progress on the Framework for Post
2015 Agenda, the UN initiative that will build on and replace the MDGs and operationalize the
promise of The Future We Want declaration emanating from the 2012 Rio+20 Conference. It
will include the articulation of 8-12 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and associated
targets to be voted on by the General Assembly in September 2015. A member-state driven
process, the General Assembly instructed that the goals be concise, action-oriented and
globally applicable to different local realities. The Secretary General has mandated UN
agencies to play technical not advocacy roles in the development of the SDGs. UN-Habitat is
participating in the process by directive of the UN Habitat Governing Council and serving,
along with UNEP as the focal point for the sustainable cities and human settlements area.
Raf Tuts explained that a UN subcommittee, the Open Working Group consisting of 30 seats
shared by 70 member states, is charged with recommending the Framework to the Secretary
General by July 2014 for transmission to the General Assembly in September 2014. The
General Assembly will vote on it in September 2015. (Member state negotiations on the
Framework will occur between 2014-2015). The OWG has developed a list of 19 potential
goals, winnowed from 39 over the past year of hearings. In the coming weeks, the OWG will
finalize a shorter list of goals and associated targets. Mr. Tuts said that the UN Technical
Support Team (TST), the staff to the OWG composed of UN agency representatives, is refining
targets for all proposed goals and that it will be working on indictors and means of
implementation soon.
Within the urban goal, there are 10 sub-areas: slum prevention and eradication, resilience,
public space, planning, rural-urban, security and social cohesion, access, heritage. In the next
months, these will also be streamlined. Targets and indicators for the urban SDG are being
developed at the moment. A report will also be prepared on the financing of the new goals.
From September 2014 to September 2015 there will be inter-governmental negotiations,
concluding in a new deal.
Raf Tuts reviewed the emergence of consensus around a stand alone goal on sustainable
cities and human settlements (SCHS) among civil society groups including the Sustainable
Development Solutions Network (SDSN), Communitas, UCLG, ICLEI, Cities Alliance and others.
He noted that, as currently construed, the SCHS goal calls for supporting and enhancing
sustainable urban development in an integrated fashion through targets on achieving
balanced territorial development through urban planning, resilience preparedness, improved
housing, transport and open space and support for social cohesion and appreciation of
culture and heritage.
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Raf Tuts noted that while momentum is growing for the goal, opposition is also present. He
outlined advocacy efforts for the goal organized by Communitas and by different member
states in New York and elsewhere. He explained that some governments reportedly fear
leaving rural populations behind. He underlined the wording in title of the proposed goal:
“sustainable cities and human settlements,” noting that it aims to signal attention to rural
areas, small towns and cities of all sizes. He listed a number of member state questions
related to the SCHS goal: How would such a goal would treat rural areas? How would it help
to secure universal public services? How would it accommodate both local and national
issues?
Raf Tuts also gave the details of two sessions on the SDGs to be held at WUF7. He concluded
by calling on WUC partners to use their networks to advance the goal on sustainable cities
and human settlements.
In the ensuing debate, partners speculated about which goals were likely to be included in the
Framework. Some suggested that ones on energy and employment may remain while ones on
infrastructure or transport may be removed.
Partners agreed that they had a role in lobbying member states on the SCHS goal either
through efforts focused at the individual national level or in sustained overall advocacy. Alison
Brown suggested that UK - based partners get together to aim at influencing UK discussions.
Imagining several possible scenarios, the partners confirmed the importance of constant
advocacy efforts for the SCHS goal
Annex E contains Raf Tuts’ presentation.
http://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/owg.html
http://unsdsn.org/
D.
For
additional
information,
visit:
KEY ISSUES
In a general discussion about the Campaign’s timeline, the partners noted that the SDG
process culminates in September 2015, and the SDGs could be officially adopted by October
2015. Habitat III will likely take place before June 2016 (because of legislative processes, it
cannot extend into July). This means that the period between the finalization of the SDGs and
Habitat III will be an ideal window to further define the future urban agenda.
1. “The City we Need” and the Way Forward
The Committee discussed the progress of WUC messaging since the last Steering Committee
meeting, notably the crafting and launch of The City we Need vision statement by March
2014. Several partners noted that they would like to see stronger support for bottom-up,
people-centric approaches in future statements. Nicholas You observed that advocacy and
lobbying work must continue through September and October of this year.
2. National Urban Campaigns
Moving forward toward Habitat III includes launching National Urban Campaigns worldwide,
during which countries, in consultation with key stakeholders, will consolidate their urban
policy platforms to be contributed to Habitat III proceedings. Christine Auclair announced
that the Campaign Secretariat is offering technical assistance; in particular it has produced a
Toolkit on National Urban Campaigns (See http://www.worldurbancampaign.org/wpcontent/uploads/2013/07/National_Urban_Campaign_Toolkit.pdf). She requested partners
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begin to identify the appropriate agencies within their national governments and urge them
to launch their Campaigns.
3. Communication Strategy
Christine Platt underlined the importance of advocacy and lobbying tasks for WUC partners,
and called for close coordination through the Communications Working Group. Nicholas You
noted that the first responsibility of the Campaign partners is to make sure that their
constituents understand what is happening with the Framework and Habitat III.
Lucy Stevens suggested that the Communications Working Group enhance the general WUC
image, observing that the UN-Habitat Nepal office was unaware of the Campaign. She
suggested that we should ensure that WUC materials are being promoted through different
offices of the UN Habitat system.
Christine Auclair explained the Secretariat communications strategy, noting that the key idea
of the Campaign was to brand all partner events with two logos: ‘I’m a City Changer’ logo and
the WUC logo. She added that the Secretariat has a designer who can assist and prepare
materials for all partners.
The WUC partners suggested having a more regular communications program. Christine
Auclair noted that the Secretariat would be able to send a regular bulletin to all in order to
centralize Campaign communication. She reminded the partners that at the last Steering
Committee, she demonstrated the MyWorld platform (http://vote.myworld2015.org/en/)
that UNDP has offered for Campaign use the adapted version towards Habitat III
preparations. She called on all Campaign Committee members to work on co-branding, and
linking materials to the WUC website and again invited submission of videos, news, events,
stories, etc. for the website.
4. Schedule for the World Urban Forum and planned WUC and partner sessions
Finally, Steering Committee members reviewed their events at World Urban Forum7, inviting
others to attend their sessions. They emphasized the importance of this World Urban Forum
as a key opportunity to engage constituencies and new partners and to promote the
Campaign and its messages. In response to a question about the next World Urban Forum,
Christine Auclair said that there will be a Forum in 2018 but that Habitat not yet decided
whether to sponsor one in 2016.
E.
CONCLUSION
The Steering Committee elected a new Chair (Prof. Eugenie Birch), a new co-Chair (Ms. Shipra
Narang Suri) to guide the Committee and the Campaign over the coming two years. The
Committee established several new Working Groups, which will be responsible for their own
communications and progress. The Secretariat will provide guidance and prepare TORs for all
working groups in consultation with the Chair and co-Chair. The Steering Committee
scheduled the next World Urban Campaign Steering Committee meeting in conjunction with
the second Habitat III PrepCom to be held in Nairobi in April 2015.
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