Leave No One and No Place Behind: Addressing Inequalities Within and Between Cities Through SDG Localization
June 29, 2022 | 11:45 - 13:15
Summary
75% of the world’s cities are more unequal in recent times compared to the two previous decades.
Inequalities are deeply entrenched by structural drivers that intersect and bolster each other, reinforcing a systematic disadvantage of the most marginalized. The current global trend of rapid urbanization has exacerbated these existent inequalities, leaving many behind.
Urban areas are hosting more than a half of today’s world population. Over the next decades, global population growth is expected to take place almost exclusively in the world’s cities and towns. In this way, urbanization is two-edged: it has the power to create engines of growth and at the same time, inequality traps, where the poor are getting poorer and the rich, richer. What is more, the onset of rapid urbanization has contributed to widening the development gap between urban and rural areas, with 85% of the global poor living in them.
In this troubling context, the international community has acknowledged the principle of leaving no one and no place behind as the transformative foundation of the 2030 Agenda and its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), positioning equality and non-discrimination at heart of sustainable development.
This Voices from Cities event aims to advance the conversation on how to promote all-encompassing local action to reduce inequalities and to voice the needs of the many times silenced ones. The discussion will also serve to prepare the ground and a first roadmap for World Habitat Day where the recommendations and findings will be showcased.
Objectives
(i) To advance the technical and political debate on the localization of the SDGs as a comprehensive roadmap to enhance inclusive human settlements and organize political inputs to implement global recommendations in local contexts (ii) To share and hear from best examples of participatory processes and inclusion related to SDG localization that can be extrapolated and tailored to different contexts (iii) To define concrete hands-on learnings and recommendations on how to effectively implement the SDGs to reduce inequalities within cities and across territories (iv) To identify recovery efforts that entail progressive urban social programmes and present how they can trigger the long-overdue transformation needed for a better and more egalitarian future in cities (v) To understand the added value that inclusion can provide to enhance economic and social impact and progress (vi) To strengthen the connection between the findings of the discussion and the theme of World Habitat Day “Leaving No One and No Place Behind”
List of Speakers
Moderator:
- Shipra Narang Suri, Urban Practices Branch Chief, UN-Habitat
Keynote speaker:
- Katerina Bezgachina, Communications Chief, UN-Habitat
Speakers:
- Mohamed Sefiani, Mayor of ChefchaouenCity Council, Morocco
- Takahiro Shiba, Managing Chief of the Shizuoka City, Japan
- Diana Rodriguez, Secretary of women, Bogotá, Colombia
- Filipe Braga Farhat, Partnerships Liaison for the 2030 Agenda in Paraná, Brazil
- Joseph Muturi, Chair, SDI Board
- Anelis Marichal, General director of the National Institute of Territorial Planning and Urbanism, Cuba
- Gwendolyn S. Myers, Founder & Executive Director of Messengers of Peace, Liberia