The Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU), Commonwealth Association of Architects (CAA), Commonwealth Association of Planners (CAP), and the Commonwealth Local Government Forum (CLGF), with support from The Prince’s Foundation, the Ministry of Infrastructure of Rwanda (MININFRA), the Ministry of Local Government of Rwanda (MINALOC), the Commonwealth Engineers Council (CEC) and the Commonwealth Association of Surveying and Land Economy (CASLE), worked together with a range of partners to curate this online programme on sustainable urbanisation in the Commonwealth.
The programme set out to:
- Build on the momentum that had already been developed in response to the need for sustainable urbanisation in the Commonwealth.
- Inform and strengthen the Call to action on sustainable urbanisation in the Commonwealth through the exchange of ideas and good practice.
- In the face of the aftereffects of the COVID-19 pandemic, to advocate for the centrality of SDG 11 in reviewing the targets and achievements of the Sustainable Development Goals.
- Promote inter-disciplinary, cross-sector collaboration and engagement to address the challenges and unlock the opportunities presented by sustainable urbanisation across the Commonwealth.
The programme was structured around the following key question: How can we collaborate more effectively to leverage the power of the Commonwealth to achieve sustainable urbanisation?
The individual sessions focused on one or more of the following themes:
- Building capacity and capability
- Empowerment, governance, and leadership
- Increasing urban resilience
- Leveraging partnerships
- Unlocking finance and trade
Each session also aimed to address the cross-cutting issues of climate change, COVID-19, gender, inclusion, and youth.
Summary of the online programme
Sessions
All sessions were recorded. Recording, resources and summaries can be found below.
Launch of the programme and Survey of the built environment professions in the Commonwealth
24 June 2020
Feedback from the frontline of COVID-19
1 July 2020
Planning for rapid urbanisation in a post COVID-19 world
8 July 2020
Decentralisation and empowering cities and human settlements
15 July 2020
Upskilling professional capacity for climate change and the recovery
22 July 2020
Sustainable urbanisation and local economic development in the context of COVID-19
29 July 2020
Infrastructure-led community resilience
5 August 2020
Achieving safe and affordable housing for all
12 August 2020
Upscaling delivery of climate responsive design
19 August 2020
Sustainable urbanisation and small island developing states – the Pacific
24 August 2020
Sustainable urbanisation and small island developing states – the Caribbean
28 August 2020
Towards a call to action, next steps and programme close
2 September 2020
Outputs and outcomes
By the end of the programme, we had heard from a diverse range of stakeholders and considered how we can achieve the following outputs and outcomes to inform the Call to action on sustainable urbanisation in the Commonwealth:
Outputs
- Improved evidence-based policy and decision making
- More effective governance, inter-governmental relations, and more integrated working methods
- Improved city leadership and better delivery of key urban services to local citizens
- Improved training for urban professionals at all levels through updated curriculum and continuing professional development (CPD)
- Improved urban planning and design at national and local level, together with more effective implementation
Outcomes
- Mitigate the negative impacts of rapid urbanisation, climate change and natural disaster in cities and human settlements
- Increase the positive benefits of urbanisation in terms of social, economic, and environmental well-being
- Improve the resilience of cities and human settlements
- Improve the health and wellbeing of citizens
- Protect and enhance the ecosystem and the natural environment, and encourage low-carbon development
- Improve economic development in cities and trade between cities in the Commonwealth
Acknowledgements
The CSCI partners thank all the contributors for their support in the creation of this online programme.
All images are credited to Johnny Miller: https://unequalscenes.com/
