To combat urban crime, mayors and other city authorities should not only rely on the police services, but should also encourage community participation in safety and security efforts.
That’s according to Aisa Kirabo Kacyira, a former mayor of Kigali, Rwanda, and Deputy Executive Director at UN-Habitat, which promotes a sustainable urban future.
The adoption of a new agenda to transform the world's cities will be "useless" unless countries and cities implement it.
That's the passionate view of Joan Clos, Secretary-General of the UN's Habitat III conference which ends on Thursday in Quito, Ecuador.
The once-every 20-years conference on Sustainable Urban Development has been focused on making cities and towns better places to live, through a non-binding New Urban Agenda, agreed by all Member States.
Road safety is “a basic human right for children,” according to the Malaysian-born actress and UN Development Programme Goodwill Ambassador, Michelle Yeoh.
Some 500 children around the world die each day on dangerous roads and thousands more are injured.
A new initiative has been launched to raise awareness about the health impacts of air pollution which the World Health Organization (WHO) calls “an invisible killer.”
The ‘BreatheLife’ campaign highlights measures cities can implement to minimize impacts, including through better housing, transport and waste and energy systems.
Around 900 million people will move to cities in Africa over the next 35 years, according to a director of the African Development Bank, who is attending the UN’s Habitat III conference in Quito, Ecuador.
Amadou Oumarou, who hails from Cameroon, said that the “future of society” across the continent will be based on steadily-growing cities.
Habitat III has brought national and local leaders from around the world together to re-think how cities can become more sustainable, inclusive and resilient in the years ahead.
The rights of women and girls to enjoy full equality, living in safe and sustainable cities, are “guaranteed” under the New Urban Agenda adopted this week at the UN’s Habitat III conference.
That’s according to Deputy Executive Director of UN Women, Lakshmi Puri, who has been attending the global summit in Quito, Ecuador, designed to rethink how we live in towns and cities.
“All migrants will be protected” in the world’s cities if governments stick to new global standards for urban living, agreed this week at the UN’s Habitat III conference in Ecuador.
That’s according to William Swing, Director-General of the International Organization for Migration (IOM), who has been attending the UN Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development, taking place in the Ecuadorian capital, Quito.
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.
The rush to leave the countryside for cities in the past used to leave the current President of the UN General Assembly feeling heartbroken.
Speaking from personal experience, Peter Thomson said that rural development projects used to go to waste thanks to depopulation in poorer countries, until the arrival of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, or SDGs.
Transforming the world “for the better” means transforming our towns and cities through sustainable development and planning.
That’s according to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, opening the Habitat III conference in Quito, Ecuador, and urging governments at all levels to work on implementing the so-called New Urban Agenda.
The agenda being adopted this week sets new standards moving forward and is designed to rethink how the fast-growing urban population lives sustainably.
Matthew Wells is in Quito and filed this report.
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