A new urban agenda?

Abstract

The text for what is termed “The New Urban Agenda” is being prepared for agreement by national government representatives at Habitat III, the United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development in Quito in October 2016. The most pressing issue for this Agenda is not so much in what it says. We can predict with some certainty that there will be ringing endorsements for urban centres to be resilient, sustainable, safe and inclusive...Ideally, it will be shorter and more coherent than its predecessor, the Habitat Agenda endorsed at Habitat II in 1996, which ran to over 100 pages.(1) But what will determine the effectiveness of any New Urban Agenda is whether it is relevant to urban governments and urban dwellers, especially those whose needs are not currently met, and gets their buy-in. This means that it has to be clear and relevant to “slum”(2)/shack dwellers and mayors, as well as to other urban politicians, civil servants and other civil society groups. And what it recommends has be within their capacities. It should also set out a framework to support these local groups to meet goals and targets that have already been established – for instance, within the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris Agreement.(3) Dangerous climate change will not be avoided unless urban governments all around the world act on both adaptation and mitigation. So is this local relevance possible – when it is national government representatives that are developing the text and that will have to approve it at Habitat III? Will national government delegates endorse an agenda that supports this local relevance with needed strategies, plans and resources? If they do, they will have to go far beyond the SDGs. The Millennium Development Goals and the SDGs are full of goals and targets (i.e. what has to be done), but very weak on how, by whom (in each locality) and with what support. Then there is the issue of the New Urban Agenda’s length and detail. If it is to clarify the implementation of the SDGs in urban areas, then it has to address almost all the SDG objectives and the many groups or sectors with legitimate claims to having their views represented. The livelihoods and health of almost all the planet’s