Harnessing the U N 2.0 capabilities to improve quality of life in urban areas

A number of interlinked challenges – climate change, political instability, armed conflict, economic inequality, global pandemics, and more – have upended the notion of the ‘good life’ for many people. At the same time, the digital revolution and other massive changes have provided enormous opportunities, along with substantial risks. Moving forward, the global community must work together, to reconceptualize how we view sustainable development. How can we ensure that the needs, priorities, and aspirations of people and what they truly value are at the heart of local and global policy?

This event will bring together experts from across the UN System and beyond, to begin to sketch out what that future may look like. Co-organized by the Quality of Life Initiative (UN-Habitat), and UN Global Pulse (the innovation lab of the Secretary General), this is a crucial opportunity to dive deep into how the modernizing capabilities of UN 2.0 – data, digital, innovation, behavioral science, strategic foresight – can be scaled across various agendas of the UN system in a way which leads to real, measurable, concrete impacts on the quality of life of individuals and communities around the world.