It took place on October 31st World Cities Daya date given by the UN General Assembly in 2014.
How came about?
In 2014, UN Habitat launched an initiative called Urban October to highlight global urban challenges and involve the international community in the development of the new Urban Agenda, adopted in October 2016 in the city of Quito during the Habitat Conference. III.
This new urban agenda is an extension of the Sustainable development goal Number 11, which aims to make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe and sustainable.
More than half of the world’s population (54% or 4 billion people) lives in cities. In recent decades, humanity has experienced significant urban growth. It is estimated that around 5 billion people will live in cities by 2030.
Living in cities is a development opportunity for people; they are a hotbed of ideas, centers of commerce, culture, science and communication, but they also raise problems of sustainable development, pollution, infrastructure and resources.
World Cities Day was created with the aim of promoting the sustainable development of cities and promoting cooperation between countries in planning urbanization.
This maximizes the ability of cities to create jobs and wealth and promote diversity and social cohesion between different classes, cultures, ethnicities and religions.
Cities must be designed to live together, create opportunities, enable connections and interaction, and facilitate the sustainable use of shared resources.
One of the key challenges for cities is to withstand the natural disasters that have recently affected so many urban centers.
TOPIC 2023: FINANCING A SUSTAINABLE URBAN FUTURE
On World Cities Day 2023 we are devoting ourselves to the exciting topic: “Financing a sustainable urban future for all.” What does that mean? The theme focuses on how we can promote investments that change the map of urban planning and achieve appropriate decentralized taxation.
City planning is like a map of a journey. Before we build, we need to know where we want to go. It is critical to ensuring our cities grow in an orderly and efficient manner. It also helps us prepare the ground and install the necessary infrastructure before construction begins. Did you know that modernizing informally built areas can be a complex and costly challenge?
Sometimes urgency forces us to build something without thinking about the future. With the right investments and smart planning, we can create cities that are sustainable, prosperous and accessible to all.
The impact of COVID-19 on society has changed the way we value cities. The people who live there go to great lengths to keep their homes safe and work to make cities safe and suitable places to live, learn and work.
Despite everything, local communities are striving to maintain economic activity and help the people who need it most. For this reason, public authorities must provide these communities with resources so that they can continue to work for their fellow human beings.
In 2019, World Cities Day focused on how technology can be used to improve the quality of life and the environment in cities. It’s about developing the concept of a smart city.
A smart city is a city that focuses on the well-being of people, is livable, cares for nature, promotes highly valuable economic exchanges, and all of this aims to improve the lives of its residents.
There are many ways in which new technologies can improve cities and make them more livable. We can list some of them:
- Transport: Electric vehicles, autonomous transport and drones can improve mobility in cities, but at the same time pose major regulatory challenges.
- Official procedures from your mobile or PC. Many municipalities have decided to digitize all official processes so that their citizens can carry them out from the comfort of their own home.
- Control spending on electricity, water or other resources and thereby save energy and resources.
- Smart healthcare system: from online procedures to connected records or patient geolocation.
- Transparency…