Cities for All:

Enabling Sustainable and Inclusive Urban Planning

10 ~ 12 May 2023 at 14:00 pm (Seoul Time)

Organized by

United Nations Institute for Training and Research(UNITAR) CIFAL Jeju

Background

Making inclusive cities is an important urban agenda for a better future city. Given that cities play a grave part in leading innovation, addressing poverty and tackling climate-related concerns, it is not surprising that the global community puts an emphasis on the importance of building inclusive cities. Yet, cities in both developed and less developed countries have grappled with varying challenges derived from rapid urbanization such as pollution hotspots, socio-economic inequalities, allocation of limited resources, and so on. Also, the rapid global growth in city population will make the existential challenges exacerbated if urban management is not planned and implemented properly.

Indeed, challenges resulting from urbanization in the developing world often seem to exceed the development outcomes: better access to assets and resource, huge wealth and opportunities that urbanization allows. Urbanization particularly in developing countries is bringing about significant changes in terms of the distribution of people and resource, not to mention land usage and consumption. Such enormous transformation generally happens in line with social and economic development, and yet many countries still are not well equipped with the policies and frameworks that can support and leverage the change towards sustainable urban future.

The movement towards an increasingly urbanized world can be a transformative driver that can be channeled into leading sustainable development for people and places in every country. In order to benefit from urbanization and minimize its negative consequences, cities need the paradigm shift in urban planning and a policy approach and directions coordinated in line with their own context. The nature and features of urbanization in each country and region is varied and so are the challenges facing different cities. This indicates that there is a need for a well-structured urban development framework to present a long-term vision and suggest priorities and actions, allowing governments and other stakeholders to address context specific urban needs and challenges while the framework is designed to be universally applicable(The New Urban Agenda).

In this regard, making inclusive cities is a critical agenda in urban planning and the framework for the New Urban Agenda. The Right to the City and Cities for All is an important concept in making cities inclusive, which should be considered as a new paradigm for urban development that seeks to tackle the major challenges in cities and human settlements of rapid urbanization, poverty reduction, social exclusion, and environmental risk that require decisive actions and new policy priorities by national, regional, and local governments(Habitat III Policy Paper 2016).

With the significance of making tomorrow’s cities inclusive for a sustainable future in mind, UNITAR CIFAL Jeju organizes a virtual capacity building workshop to provide an opportunity to revisit urban planning, design and management. This workshop will take stock of how the New Urban Agenda can play a part as an accelerator of the SDGs, particularly SDG 11 – Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable, along with how to ensure citizen participation in sustainable urban development policy-making process while putting more focus on building inclusive public spaces and understanding how they can contribute to making cities inclusive and equitable.

Event objectives

ž  To provide a platform for sharing good practices and lessons learned on the pathways to inclusive and sustainable urbanization

ž  To explore how to leverage the New Urban Agenda to tackle the urbanization challenges

ž  To gain insight into how to create public spaces in cities from the perspective of PWDs(Persons with Disabilities), youth and gender sensitive approaches

Expected outcomes

ž  Better understanding of what the New Urban Agenda can bring about for sustainable urbanization in line with the SDGs

ž  Sharing different experiences in sustainable urban development engagement

ž  Getting familiar with strategies and tools that can be adapted to the contexts and needs of each locality for city policies

Target audience

-   This training is mainly open to those from different sectors in the Asia Pacific region – governments, NGOs, CSOs and Private Sectors, who have been working in the urban development area in line with SDG 11 – Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable.

Methodology

The training consists of:

-          expert lecture and Q&A session

-          interactive quiz activity

-          individual assignment

Program Structure (Please see the agenda for the program details.)

Venue 

Online (The whole program will be delivered using the Zoom platform.)

Registration deadline

-   Please apply by May 1, 2023 (Monday)through the following link.

-   https://bit.ly/3TRy5Tz

* Please note the following:

-    Those with at least two years of working experience in the urban development sphere are encouraged to join the program.

-    The participants should be fluent in written and spoken English.

-    If a participant does not attend any session during the training without notice, he/she will NOT be awarded a Certificate of Completion.

Certificate

ž  E-Certificate of Completion will be jointly issued by UNITAR and UNITAR CIFAL Jeju.

ž  The participants are required to complete the following to be eligible for the certificate:

-   Attend and actively participate in all sessions with the camera on at all times

-   Complete and submit individual assignment

Contact

Ms. Sunhee CHO, Senior Program Officer

Email:cifaljeju.jitc.1@gmail.com