The GOLD IV report latest edition is now available online!

GOLD IV

The Fourth Report of the Global Observatory on Local Democracy and Decentralization (GOLD III) reviews the diverse realities of metropolitan areas, intermediary cities, regions, small municipalities and rural areas, with a view to guiding the implementation of the New Urban Agenda and the SDGs. The report, entitled ‘Co-creating the Urban Future"’, is now available online in English, French and Spanish from the GOLD and UCLG websites.

Since the publication of its first edition in 2008, the Global Report on Local Democracy and Decentralization (GOLD) has become an international benchmark in the analysis of local and regional governments worldwide. GOLD IV analizes that the fulfilment of the global agendas will depend on an enhanced partnership between local and regional governments and the international community. Based on concrete practices, it provides an in-depth analysis of how urban and territorial policies can contribute to the new international development agenda and, by extension, argues that local and regional governments will have to take the lead in translating the new development agenda into reality.

The Agenda of Metropolises, cities and territories

The fourth edition, GOLD IV, examines the challenges and issues that local and regional governments face in our current urban age through three main chapters on metropolitan areas, intermediary cities, and territories (including regions, small towns and rural municipalities) as well as the solutions that can be devised to co-create the inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable cities of the future, as advocated in Goal 11 of the SDGs.GOLD IV studies the role that local and regional governments can play within the emerging new global consensus. Through key international agreements such as the 2030 Agenda, the Paris Agreement on Climate and the New Urban Agenda, the international community has finally committed to leave ineffective, exclusionary and unsustainable development models behind. As emphasized in the report, the contribution of local and regional governments will be critical.

"GOLD IV analyzes that the fulfilment of the global agendas will depend on an enhanced partnership between local and regional governments and the international community"

The world is witnessing an encouraging proliferation of sustainability-driven initiatives in urban settlements and territories across the world. The scope, diffusion and effects of these initiatives can be crucial to meeting the goals of the global agendas and fostering the emergence of a whole new way of defining urban and territorial governance. Against this backdrop, local and regional governments can be empowered to catalyze an inclusive process that is consistent with principles of local democracy and the Right to the City to cocreate the future of our cities and territories.

For this purpose, GOLD IV presents the foundations of the Global Agenda of Local and Regional Governments for the coming decade; a set of policy recommendations for all actors and stakeholders in the local and regional governance system. This agenda for metropolises, cities and territories is UCLG’s legacy and contribution to the global debate and an invitation to take the next step and foster a truly global and inclusive alliance for our urban future.