Planning and Financing Sustainable Mobility and Urban Infrastructure

In the scope of the resolution on Urban Planning and Sustainable Infrastructure (HSP/HA2/8) adopted by the United Nations Habitat Assembly on 9 June 2023, which was championed by the Africa Group (Nigeria, Kenya, Morocco and Cameroon), seconded by Pakistan and adopted by acclamation this event aims to share best practices, discuss lessons learned, and seek partnerships to develop integrated urban and infrastructure planning processes and financing mechanisms.
The resolution focuses on three main topics:
1. Develop a global technical digital platform for integrated urban planning and sustainable infrastructure development.
2. Establish technical assistance and capacity-building to support countries and cities, through localized centres of excellence and urban labs.
3. Provide information and linkages with institutions to support the financing of sustainable infrastructure and mobility.
The first part of the event will showcase UN-Habitat's initiatives and solutions developed to advance on these aspects:
1. Our City Plans digital platform consolidates a methodology for integrated and participatory spatial planning processes that incorporates sustainable mobility and other thematic areas, consolidates different tools and technical resources from UN-Habitat, offers a flexible and adaptable toolbox that can be applied to diverse contexts, and fosters a network of cities that exchange knowledge on urban planning and infrastructure.
2. The Planning, Finance and Economy section is deploying a strategy to create descentralised urban labs, building on the global unit located in UN-Habitat Headquarters, and expanding to different regions and countries. Urban labs aim to link the regional work with global opportunities, incubate new projects and processes, provide on-demand technical support and capacity building, and act as a vehicle to advance on the development and implementation of participatory and sustainable integrated urban planning and infrastructure development initiatives.
3. Ongoing efforts and projects to leverage finance at the city level to foster equitable urban value creation, through financial strategies such as land value capture, capital investment planning, and access to external financing mechanisms to mobilize appropriate funding and direct investment towards the creation of sustainable infrastructure and mobility.
The presentation will be followed by a panel discussion with government officials from the Africa Group and Latin America, where elements of the resolutions have already been implemented, as well as other regions and representatives from financing institutions. They will share common challenges and discuss opportunities, potential solutions and ways forward to advance on the implementation of the resolution.