To meet SDG 11’s call to create cities that are inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable, policymakers need to grapple with problems related to increasing inequality, discrimination, resident physical and mental well-being, the impacts of climate change, as well as the provision of infrastructure, public services and decent work – all of which are also core components of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Against this backdrop, the role of migration has been acknowledged as fundamental: in its internal and international guises, it is radically transforming cities worldwide. Likewise, urbanization is compromising the socioeconomic fabric of cities, including the health and well-being of their citizens. UNESCO is working together with national and local governments, civil society, and the research community to develop policies, research initiatives and operational projects – from rejuvenating public space through sport to exploring large-scale rural-urban migration – that will build inclusive, healthy, and resilient cities, free from all forms of discrimination. Cities are coming to represent an ever-greater share of human experience, but if we do not understand them, we cannot make them work.
WUF Events
(Networking Event) Integrating Migrants in Cities: Challenges and Opportunities
Friday 9 February | 12:00-13:00 | Urban Library
This event brings together various stakeholders to emphasize the importance of a holistic, intersectoral, and collaborative approach to integrating migrants in cities, and could not come at a more critical moment. According to the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), an estimated 65.3 million people are now either an asylum-seeker, internally displaced or a refugee, and every minute 24 people are displaced from their home.
(Side Event) Physical inactivity and Rising Non-Communicable Diseases: How creating space for sport can support the Implementation of the New Urban Agenda and drive socioeconomic development in Asia-Pacific
Friday 9 February | 12:00-13:00 | Urban Library
Organized in the context of the Ninth Session of the World Urban Forum, a panel on "Physical inactivity and Rising Non-Communicable Diseases: How creating space for sport can support the implementation of the New Urban Agenda and drive socioeconomic development in Asia-Pacific". It seeks to examine the relationship between physical inactivity, rising Non-Communicable Diseases and the shrinking public realm in Asia and the Pacific, and how local initiatives in enhancing sport and well-being could promote inclusion and belonging in urban spaces.
Publications
- Cities Welcoming Refugees and Migrants
- Migration, free movement and regional Integration
- The Power of Sport Values