COVID-19 has shaken beliefs and we must think, act, and collaborate beyond the outbreak. The new #CitiesAreListening Experience that we launched, together with Metropolis and UN-Habitat, is inspired from the lessons learnt from our membership during the outbreak and on how local and regional leaders envision the future.
Solidarity has been a beacon of security throughout the pandemic, and this principle will need to guide us as we navigate the aftermath. The first edition of the #CitiesAreListening Experiences, built on our Live Learning Experiences began at the end of the year, and took the form of exercises in co-creation between the local and regional governments constituency and the civil society on how to build back better from the pandemic. The experiences will also delve on how to give shape to the living community that has been formed beyond the virtual gatherings that have been and will continue to take place. Stay tuned!
The next step in the #CitiesAreListening process facilitated by UCLG, Metropolis and UN-Habitat, will see them continue to be space for dialogue and interaction between different stakeholders and the political leadership of the local and regional governments constituency. The topics addressed will focus on each of the axes of the Pact for the Future to renew our social contract for the people, for the planet, and for governments.
Throughout the month of April, the #CitiesAreListening Experiences are set to discover how to bring about a resilient recovery by including all stakeholders, provide an ongoing dialogue to help shape our international advocacy, and become an exercise that will build our thinking for the future of humanity and build back after the pandemic. Exploring issues such as the future of tourism, access to public space and developing healthy cities beyond healthcare, the relationship between culture and sustainable development, and the relationship between climate change and our food systems. The solutions to the challenges that we face cannot come from one single actor alone, but will instead need our joint knowledge and resolve.
The #CitiesAreListening Experience will mark the way towards the implementation of the UCLG Decalogue for the COVID-19 aftermath, inspired by the lessons learned from our membership during the outbreak and by how local and regional leaders envision the future.They are leading the conversations on how to develop cities and territories that care, by bringing together all of the actors that can co-create solutions. For the people, for the planet, for governments.
CALENDAR:
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07 APRIL 2021 Access to Public Space, A Key Element For The Mental Health and Wellbeing of Our Communities. Led by the UCLG Committee on Strategic Planning
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13 APRIL 2021 Towards a Future Tourism. Strategy: Economic Recovery Tool For A Sustainable World Beyond The Pandemic. Led by UCCI
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20 APRIL 2021 Upgrading Culture in Sustainable Development: The Time is Now. Led by UCLG Committee on Culture.
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27 APRIL 2021 Food systems and climate change. Led by Barcelona and FAO
- Visit the LiveLearningExperience repository
- See the Live Learning Experience Video
- Read the UCLG Decalogue for the COVID19 Aftermath
- Visit the Cities4GlobalHealth platform