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Enabling Youth in Building Resilient Cities of Tomorrow

Ishita Yadav

Moderator

date June 29, 2022 | 10:00 - 11:30
place
ICC: Voices from Cities Room A
organization
Children and Youth Constituency to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
country
Global
language
Polish, Spanish, English, French + CART
theme
Greener Urban Futures
Reference: 
VC-A 8

Summary

Young people facilitate a paradigm for change by fostering innovation, advancing sustainable leadership, and promoting equality. Youth involvement and leadership in SDG 11 efforts are vital to achieving green, resilient, and inclusive cities. With as many as 60% of all urban dwellers being under the age of 18 by 2030, young people will directly influence the outcome of SDG 11 as a key driver for its successful implementation. 

However, young people are not only disproportionately affected by the climate crisis but also subjected to barriers in accessing quality training, acquiring finance for entrepreneurship, and securing decent jobs, preventing them from leading, participating in, and benefitting from the green recovery. 

Too often youth voices remain an afterthought in the development and implementation of urban policy and planning, highlighting the need to create enabling environments for young people to engage in local and regional policy making frameworks. 

At the World Urban Forum 11 (WUF11), YOUNGO, youth constituency to the UNFCCC, in partnership with ICLEI, are holding a side event to provide insights into urban governance from a youth perspective, calling on stakeholders to take action in promoting youth inclusion in the local and regional policy-making space. It will comprise of three main segments

  1. Presentations and a panel discussion with youth occupying different positions both inside and outside government (as activists, local government volunteers and members of networks) sharing their experiences of engaging with local and regional climate policy making mechanisms.
  2. Presentation of the Conference of Youth (COY16) Youth Statement on Sustainable Cities and Communities based on 200+ youth voices submitted to the presidency and national governments of COP26. 
  3. Youth-moderated fireside style chat engaging policy-makers and representatives from cities and international organizations to showcase best practices and innovative solutions for creating more enabling governance structures and policies for youth engagement.

The event will include virtual and in-person Q&As and polls and culminate in a series of recommendations or calls to action. 

Objectives

The primary objective of this event is to explore key challenges and opportunities for young people to engage in building inclusive climate-resilient cities and highlight innovative solutions as well as proven best practices to help stakeholders advance youth engagement.

The event will convene youth from across the income and vulnerability spectrum, who seek opportunities to engage in local urban governance by interacting with leaders at the regional government level on topics including climate. Through their conversations, speakers will embody the power of intergenerational dialogue, discussing the intersection of youth and just urban transitions, as well as highlighting how to build inclusive urban spaces. These solution-oriented discussions will feature youth-enabling recommendations and showcase what young people have to offer in this space, supporting non-youth stakeholders to advance youth participation and inspire youth to take action.

Session speakers

Speaker
Role
Organization
Country
Mr. Ahmed Mokgopo
Campaigns Officer
C40
Ms Euan Crispin
Cities Working Group Representative
YOUNGO
Ms Giorgia Rambelli
Coordinator for Climate Policy & Energy Governance
ICLEI
Mr Euan Crispin
Cities Working Group Representative
YOUNGO
Ms. Hailey Campbell
Local Government Volunteer
City and County of Honolulu