Multi-scale and multi-actor partnerships to advance the Right to the City and the New Urban Agenda

As WUF12 takes place, we reach the mark of the ten year anniversary of the beginning of the preparatory process for Habitat III. This involved multiple thematic and regional meetings that set the basis for the discussion to take place in Quito, bringing together various actors to collectively commit to actions that make our cities, villages, territories and human settlements more just, inclusive, safe and sustainable. This preparatory process, in its depth and diversity, was anchored on the understanding that the main challenges faced by cities and human settlements can only be addressed through multi-scalar and multi-actor partnerships.
10 years later, such an understanding is as relevant as ever. The convergence of poly-crises such as the Covid-19 pandemic, the climate emergency and increased inequalities, points towards the failure of strategies currently in place and the need to find alternatives that are more equal, democratic and prioritize the care for people and the planet. It is clear that these and other challenges require responses that are both locally grounded and connected to global systemic transformations. For such, advancing new forms of partnerships, grounded on decentralization and mutual-responsibility is key.
The road towards Habitat III was marked by the strong mobilization of multiple actors around the defense for the Right to the City, which was eventually included in the New Urban Agenda as part of the vision in which it is based. Such an approach, combining both a territorial and human rights framework with the democratic management of cities and human settlements understood as common goods, offers crucial elements for grounding the discussion on how to advance the multi-actor and multi-scalar partnerships needed today.
Thus, this event seeks to hold a conversation that recovers the key elements and strategies of the mobilization around the defense of the Right to the City around the Habitat III process and critically analyzes them in the reality of today. On one hand, this will entail re-examining key principles that guided such as mobilization; on the other hand, it will include a discussion on how the partnerships and coalitions behind the mobilization ahead of Habitat III have evolved through time and how the linkages forged during that process can be further fostered and enhanced. This will be done through a multi-stakeholder panel involving representatives of key constituencies involved in the process, such as national and local governments, civil society and grassroots organizations, academia and international networks and institutions.