COMMONWEALTH SUSTAINABLE CITIES INITIATIVE

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Global Roundtable on Decentralization and Multi-level Governance

The Commonwealth Local Government Forum (CLGF) participated in the Global Roundtable on the Future of Decentralization and Multilevel Governance, held in February 2026 at New York University’s Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, as part of its work under the Commonwealth Sustainable Cities Coalition. Convened by the Local Public Sector Alliance with a range of global partners, the roundtable brought together policymakers, city leaders, researchers, and international organisations to examine how decentralisation and multilevel governance systems must evolve in response to rapid urbanisation, fiscal pressures and increasing climate risks.

As part of the programme, CLGF designed and facilitated a panel on multilevel governance and cities, using climate resilience as a lens to explore how governance systems shape urban outcomes in practice. The discussion highlighted how cities’ ability to respond to climate pressures and urbanisation depends heavily on whether responsibilities, resources and incentives are aligned across levels of government.

Participants also stressed that urban finance constraints are often structural rather than technical. Borrowing rules, intergovernmental transfers and revenue authority are frequently controlled at national or state level, limiting what cities can deliver. The session reinforced the importance of addressing the governance dimensions of urban finance and informed CLGF’s ongoing work through the CSCC Urban Finance Action Group to support more resilient, inclusive, and effectively financed urban development across the Commonwealth.

CSCC Sustainable Urbanisation Expert Group Workshop

Engaging Commonwealth Sustainable Cities Coalition (CSCC) project stakeholders on the ACU Sustainable Urbanisation Expert Group objectives and deliverables and presenting the results of the scoping study, including the drivers affecting the alignment of HE teaching and training with policy and professional practice.

Sustainable Urban Development in Madhya Pradesh

This state-level dialogue, convened under the Commonwealth Sustainable Cities Coalition (CSCC), brought together national, state and local government representatives, practitioners, and partners to address the challenges of sustainable urbanisation in Madhya Pradesh. The dialogue built on the Government of India’s support for the Commonwealth Declaration on Sustainable Urbanisation and drew on cross-Commonwealth learning, including discussions convened in 2025.

Focusing on three priority themes: housing, urban finance and integrated planning, alongside cross-cutting skills and capacity needs, the dialogue provided a platform to identify systemic barriers, explore good practice from within India and across the Commonwealth, and strengthen coordination between key actors. Particular emphasis was placed on the role of multi-level governance in enabling more effective urban policy and delivery.

A key outcome was the development of a practical roadmap to enhance collaboration across levels of government, address institutional and capacity constraints, and support more inclusive, climate-resilient urban development. The dialogue also reinforced the value of the CSCC as a platform for translating shared commitments into coordinated, action-oriented approaches at country level.

Online programme


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/

Responding to the global urban planning challenge: Developing an open innovation competition

This was the final of three events in support of the Call to action on sustainable urbanisation in the Commonwealth.

The pace of urbanisation in many Commonwealth Countries in Asia and Africa is without precedent. However, there is a critical shortage of reliable, easy-to-use, data-driven planning and mapping tools to support planning decision-making. Cost-effective, user-led, data-driven products and services have the potential to significantly improve the capacity of local governments and communities to make planning decisions and strategic infrastructure investments that are evidence-based and in line with sustainable and equitable development principles. A challenge prize holds potential to drive innovation in this space. This event explored the points where a prize could have significant leverage, including a dive into the nature of the problem, current barriers, using and scaling data-driven tools, and strategies to engage innovators, cities and stakeholders to accelerate innovation.

This event was attended by over 147 participants from over 36 countries.


Chair: Kathy Nothstine and Olivier Usher, Nesta Challenges, UK

Opening and closing remarks: Peter Oborn, Senior Vice President, Commonwealth Association of Architects

Panellists:

  • Patrick Lamson-Hall, Research Scholar, New York University Marron Institute of Urban
  • Management, USA
    Manuel de Araujo, Mayor of Quelimane City, Mozambique
  • Dr Shipra Narang Suri, Chief, Urban Practices Branch, Global Solutions Division, UN-Habitat
  • Kilion Nyambuga, Programme Officer, Slum Dwellers International, Kenya

Key messages

  1. A challenge prize could spur the creation of cost-effective, data-driven, scalable, locally relevant planning tools to better inform decision making in rapidly urbanising cities and human settlements.
  2. There is a need to discuss further with partners and funders who have an interest in supporting in solving this problem, as well as exploratory conversations with potential host cities and other partners.

Resources

Informing urban policy decisions using better data in Zambia

This was the second of three events in support of the Call to action on sustainable urbanisation in the Commonwealth.

Informal settlements make up over 54% of the urban population in Africa, with profound consequences in terms of health and well-being, prosperity and environmental impact, plus the fact that retrofitting infrastructure is three time more expensive. In Lusaka, Zambia, an urbanisation plan is needed to better target investment in critical infrastructure and services, upgrading informal settlements to provide for the most vulnerable residents. But how do policy makers make informed decisions and quickly?

Working with the International Growth Centre and Commonwealth Association of Architects, Ordnance Survey produced detailed data in a few weeks, so that policy makers could start to ensure a more resilient urban future for Lusaka and its residents. The participants also discussed tools that can help nations measure their progress against SDGs and help with their resilient recovery from COVID-19.

This event was attended by over 125 participants from over 34 countries.

Chair: Andy Wilson, Region Director, Africa, Ordnance Survey, UK

Opening and closing remarks: Peter Oborn, Senior Vice President, Commonwealth Association of Architects

Framing presentation: Juliet Ezechie, Head of International, Ordnance Survey, UK

Panellists:

  • Dennis Chiwele, International Growth Centre, Zambia
  • Lt Col Francis Ngabo, Chief Executive Officer, Rwanda Space Agency, Rwanda
  • Meembo Nchimunya Changula, Principal Planner – Forward Planning, Ministry of Local Government, Zambia

Key messages

  1. Challenges in informal settlements are very complex and take different forms: physical, political, cultural and environmental. A combination of many factors need to be tackled.
  2. Informal settlements are the product of a series of wider problems. Governments require detailed data and at a more granular level to inform city, regional and national policy. It is critical to have an understanding of the challenges at the neighbourhood or even property level.
  3. Data has to come from many different stakeholders, using existing data where possible but also understanding the need to collect new data, and looking at new ways to collect data in order to achieve evidence-based policy.
  4. The importance of having time series data rather than just looking at today’s data, so that trends and changes can be identified over time, and potentially looking at using real time data. Having both allows one to measure the effectiveness of policy over time.
  5. It is vital to measure success by how interventions are making a difference to citizens and their health and welling. The measurement of targeted interventions to improve infrastructure in informal settlements is also critical to mitigating the informal nature of the settlements.
  6. It is important to use academic research and knowledge to inform the political agenda, the policy measures and the inventions and actions.
  7. The significance of partnership in achieving success, as demonstrated by the Lusaka Informal Settlements Project. No one organisation can tackle these challenges on their own; a combined effort across multiple stakeholders, both in the public and private sector, is required to achieve success.

Resources

Building a strong evidence-base for policy making and action in cities

This was the first of three events in support of the Call to action on sustainable urbanisation in the Commonwealth.

UN Habitat suggests that 65% of the 169 targets underpinning the 17 Sustainable Development Goals are linked to territorial and urban development. This event brought together policymakers, academics, and practitioners to consider:

  • The importance of building an evidence base in fast-growing cities
  • The kind of data and evidence that we need
  • How we can work together more effectively to help build a strong evidence base for effective policy making and action on the ground to help deliver sustainable urbanisation, leaving no one and no place behind.

This event was attended by over 129 participants from over 34 countries.


Opening and closing remarks: Peter Oborn, Senior Vice President, Commonwealth Association of Architects

Panellists:

  • Astrid Haas, Urban Economist, African Development Bank, Uganda
  • Omad Masud, CEO, The Urban Unit, Pakistan
  • Matthew Adendorff, Data Lead, Open Cities Lab, South Africa

Chair: Victoria Delbridge, Head of Cities That Work, IGC

Key messages

  1. An evidence base is important to tackle policymakers’ priority challenges – given the resource and climate constraints cities face. We need to address urban challenges with more urgency than before, and leveraging data and evidence enables us to progress faster and with greater accuracy.
  2. Data should be used to solve existing problems, rather than prioritising data first and retrospectively identifying problems that it can solve.
  3. Data often exists but not in a usable format – we need to improve the storage, accessibility, quality and frequency of data for policy decisions.
  4. It is important to create an interface between domain expertise and data – local officials provide domain expertise, such as industrial and city requirements, and data experts can ensure they use spatial data in a way relevant to the needs of officials.
  5. A successful common evidence base between city stakeholders requires a consolidated, needs-driven structuring of information to achieve policymaking objectives. This requires common data principles (objectives, sovereignty of data, sharing mechanisms), gender and social inclusion focus (ensuring all residents are included), understanding of governance frameworks, and data taxonomy (structures, reporting) to ensure governance requirements are met.

Resources

Building Better Data

The Commonwealth Association of Architects, in collaboration with the International Growth Centre, Ordnance Survey and Nesta Challenges, hosted a series of three online events. The aim of the events was to explore how we can build better data to support sustainable urbanisation in the Commonwealth. The series was held in support of the Call to action on sustainable urbanisation in the Commonwealth.

Each event included a short framing presentation, followed by a discussion with a diverse panel of experts, and included contributions from the audience.


Sessions


Acknowledgements

The CSCI partners thank the International Growth Centre, Ordnance Survey and Nesta Challenges for their support in the creation of this online programme.

High-level event pre-COP26

This high-level hybrid event was convened on the eve of COP26 by key Commonwealth partners and The Prince’s Foundation. Key voices from across the Commonwealth considered ways that the Commonwealth can respond to the ‘triple threat’ of climate change, rapid urbanisation and the COVID-19 pandemic, and the need for collaboration if targets are to be met within the limited time available.

The discussion centred on the Call to action on sustainable urbanisation across the Commonwealth.

Marvin Rees, Mayor of Bristol City and Commonwealth Local Government Forum Board Member

HRH the Prince of Wales said: “Sustainable urban development is clearly critical to responding to the climate emergency. The scale of our response needs to be equal to the scale of the challenge we are facing. I sincerely hope the very essence of adding social, environmental and commercial value can help to inspire and guide our actions and responses in the weeks and months ahead. The Commonwealth Call to Action seems to me to provide a really perfect rallying point for Commonwealth member states, central and local governments, civil society, and organisations at all levels, to come together seriously to support and deliver real and transformational change through the way that we plan and manage our cities and human settlements.”

The Rt Hon Patricia Scotland QC, the Commonwealth Secretary-General, said: “Tackling climate change is the defining global challenge of our times, and if we can solve the challenges of urbanisation, we have a realistic chance of tackling climate change and providing a hope and a future for our world. The Commonwealth is showing leadership and taking action on creating more sustainable urban environments with collaborations at a local, national and global level from academia to business to civil society. Commonwealth citizens, especially the young, are taking action, innovating, and building and crafting solutions to the world’s greatest challenge. It will be the work, determination and inspiration of these pioneers that we will all rely upon for our future and so it is our responsibility now to create a social, economic and political environment in which their talents and endeavours can flourish.”

Dr Jeanne d’Arc Mujawamariya, Rwandan Environment Minister, said: “Rwanda’s engagement with sustainable urbanisation, and its support for the Call to Action, is fetched from the Rwanda’s Vision 2050 that prioritises sustainable and green urbanisation, with the aim to achieve low-carbon development. Urbanisation must also be inclusive, with particular emphasis on gender and social protection. Rwanda’s strategic direction underscores sustainable urbanisation for the benefit of Commonwealth countries, which calls for concerted effort and ambitious action.”

Marvin Rees, Mayor of Bristol City and Board Member of Commonwealth Local Government Forum, said: “It is critical that we work together across all levels of government and with civil society, the private sector and academia to make our cities and towns liveable for all. Mayors have a critical leadership role in ensuring the voices of cities are heard at an international and national level. We must all understand the threat climate change poses to our cities and the critical role sustainable urbanisation can play in building resilience and reducing global carbon emissions, and we must commit the global finance needed to provide the infrastructure that is needed to decarbonise. Cities and national governments need to be working more closely along with the finance sector to ensure that we can deliver on our carbon reduction commitments and the SDGs. The Commonwealth and the Call to Action offer an opportunity to get in place the governance and finance we need.”

The partners behind the Call to Action commented:

Lucy Slack, Acting Secretary-General of the Commonwealth Local Government Forum, said: “With nearly 50% of the projected increase in the world’s urban population by 2050 forecast to be in the Commonwealth, as the voice of local government in the Commonwealth, CLGF members believe that there has never been a more important time for members of the Commonwealth network to come together and act together on the issues of rapid urbanisation and climate change, exacerbated in the context of a global pandemic. City governments and local leaders play a pivotal role in building safe, healthy and sustainable cities and towns for all.”

Kalim Siddiqui, President of the Commonwealth Association of Architects, said: “There is an urgent need for us to tackle the critical lack of capacity among built environment professionals in many of the Commonwealth countries that are urbanising most rapidly and are among the most vulnerable to climate change impacts, especially in the public sector and in secondary cities. The impact of unplanned and poorly planned settlements can already be seen in terms of widespread inequality, informality and vulnerability. The Commonwealth Association of Architects is committed to working with partners to develop the Call to Action into a programme of practical action that will have real impact on the ground.”

Dr Joanna Newman MBA FRSA, Secretary General of the Association of Commonwealth Universities, said: “The Association of Commonwealth Universities is a global network of 500 member universities in 50 countries, dedicated to building a better world through higher education. Universities are helping to tackle the issues of rapid urbanisation and climate change highlighted by the Call to Action through research, education and policy engagement. They are also central to the need for interdisciplinary action – by working together with communities, governments and the built environment professions, universities are able to drive evidence-based policymaking into practice, creating a more sustainable future for us all.”

Eleanor Mohammed, President of the Commonwealth Association of Planners, said: “The Commonwealth Association of Planners believes in order to achieve the elements of the Call to Action, governments at all levels, the professions, academia, and technical experts must work together. We also must take a human-centred, nature-based, and climate action approach that reflects the needs, cultures, and well-being of all the world’s citizens. We represent over 40,000 professional planners from 27 countries globally and have a dedicated Youth Network, which is particularly important in the context of sustainable urbanisation considering that 60% of the population of the Commonwealth are under 30.”

Jeremy Cross, Associate Director (International) for The Prince’s Foundation, said: “The Prince’s Foundation provides holistic solutions to challenges facing the world today. It champions a sustainable approach to how we live our lives and build our communities – in ways that respect the natural environment and help to reduce many of the key drivers of climate change. In that context, the Prince’s Foundation’s Rapid Planning Toolkit helps achieve the objectives of the Call to Action as a practical resource used by city mayors, leaders and key departments in more than ten countries across four continents to assist them in expanding cities in a sustainable, responsible way.”

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Acknowledgements

The CSCI partners thank the speakers for their participation on the day and continued support and contributions.

UN high-level meeting on the Call to Action

On the eve of the High-level meeting of the General Assembly on the implementation of the New Urban Agenda, key Commonwealth partners, in close collaboration with The Prince’s Foundation and the Government of Rwanda, hosted a virtual side event in support of the Call to action on sustainable urbanisation across the Commonwealth.

Within the context of the New Urban Agenda, the discussion focused on partnerships for inclusive delivery on the following three priority areas set out in the Call to Action:

  • The imperative of putting a greater focus on sustainable urbanisation in the Commonwealth.
  • Strengthening the Commonwealth dialogue to define and implement a new way of working towards sustainable urbanisation.
  • Commitment to a new initiative and practical action towards sustainable urbanisation.

Acknowledgements

The CSCI partners thank the speakers for their participation on the day and continued support and contributions.