National politics are important “but the 21st Century will be based on cities” and not countries, according to the mayor of Canada’s second city, Montréal.

Apart from running Montréal, Denis Coderre is president of the “Metropolis” group, which represents all of the world’s big cities, with populations of over one million.

He was speaking at the UN’s Habitat III conference in Quito, Ecuador, dedicated to re-thinking the planning and sustainability of cities and towns for the future.

Matthew Wells asked him whether the adoption of the New Urban Agenda at the conference, was really going to make a difference in achieving the 2030 global Sustainable Development Goals.

Duration: 4’07”