The Global Future Cities Programme was presented during the first meeting of The Executive Board of UN-Habitat, held online from Wednesday 7 April to Thursday 8 April. The Executive Board provides Member States with increased oversight of UN-Habitat’s operations with the aim to strengthen UN-Habitat’s accountability, transparency and effectiveness. The Programme demonstrated to the Member States how it combines normative and operational workstreams, to spur development locally while exploring new, alternative ways to address emerging global issues.
The presentation of the Programme was well received by Member States, and countries part of the Programme commended the project. Malaysia congratulated the work of the Global Future Cities Programme in Iskandar and Melaka, where strategic advice and capacity building provided by UN-Habitat will lead to improved socio-economic conditions and sustainable and inclusive urbanization. Indonesia then welcomed the Global Future Cities Programme supporting projects in the cities of Surabaya and Bandung, anticipating the projects to flourish as best practices for other cities to follow.
Of particular interest was the SDG Project Assessment Tool, an offline, digital and participatory instrument to guide City Authorities and Delivery Partners in the development of more inclusive, sustainable and effective urban projects. The tool was developed for the Global Future Cities Programme supporting the development of urban projects and their alignment to the SDGs in the field of urban planning, mobility, resilience and data systems. The SDG Tool is a framework based on global standards and principles. UN-Habitat is currently looking at replicating and upscaling the SDG Tool in other countries and cities.
To find out more about the SDG Project Assessment Tool, visit https://www.globalfuturecities.org/sdg-project-assesment-tool
Further information on UN-Habitat’s Executive Board meeting can be found here: https://unhabitat.org/First-session-of-the-year-2021-of-the-Executive-Board