By Frederick Kusambiza

This article is based on select experiences and discussions from the World Urban Forum (WUF3), an international UN-HABITAT event on meeting the challenge of urban sustainability.

Background
The WUF3 took place in Vancouver, Canada during June 2006 and attracted about 11 000 people from over a 100 countries. The five days of the Forum were devoted to examining rapid urbanisation and its impact on communities, cities, economies and policies. The WUF3 marked the 30th Anniversary of the UN Conference on Human Settlements - Habitat I - which was also held in Vancouver, but in 1976. Then, the aim was to place local community councils on the international agenda and highlight the importance of inclusiveness. Today, the aim is to consider the future sustainability of our cities by turning “Ideas into Action”. Broad participation was encouraged by including 13 roundtable discussions that brought Habitat Agenda partners into peer group sessions where experiences and views were shared. According to the organisers, there was a notable increase in private sector participation this year compared to previous sessions. The next session - the WUF4 - will take place in Nanjing, China in 2008.

Key trends
Over the past three decades the world has become more urbanised, congested and polluted, and less equitable. An increase in poverty and a depreciation of living standards has occurred as half of the world’s population now lives in urban areas. More than half of the developing world’s urban population now live in slums. Cities of today are populated by “new strangers” who create new forms of built environment in sprawling urban patterns. Furthermore, cities function as social hubs. The world is relentlessly urbanising resulting in congestion and increased demand for technology with more pressure on natural resources. For many, the road to the city leads to poverty. The WUF, therefore, reasserted the imperatives of the last 20 years viz. the urgency of creating places where populations can live in a sustainable manner with adequate shelter and the need for services, security, economic opportunities and less pollution. On a more optimistic note, the WUF suggested that deprivation and opportunity co-exist.  Interventions such as urban planning, architecture and engineering should, therefore, contribute to sustainable development. It was strongly argued that governments affirm the importance of the “local” in providing greater “political support” for proper urban planning for good neighbourhoods and healthy cities.

Key contributors
A few speakers helped to set the tone of the WUF as a whole. The Prime Minister of Canada, Stephen Harper, stressed the concept of “enlightened urban statecraft” with an emphasis on governments achieving fiscal and jurisdictional balance. Such statecraft would entail addressing infrastructure deficits, ensuring environmental sustainability, curbing urban crime, providing affordable housing, promoting cultural diversity and averting terrorism. Noting that most population growth in the next 25 years will take place in the cities of developing countries, the Vice-President of the Philippines, Noli De Castro, highlighted “the connection between urban poverty and the struggle for democracy”. Japan’s Senior Vice-Minister of Finance, Naokazu Takemoto, remarked on the importance of civil society engagement as a contributing factor to strong governance and social stability, which in turn lays the basis for sustainable growth and poverty reduction. Smangaliso Mkwhatshwa of South Africa, who is Co-President of the United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG), noted that UCLG guidelines on the decentralisation framework had been completed. These emphasise community involvement in addressing the challenges of urbanisation. Partnerships between state and civil society were once again emphasised for their potential to accelerate development. Arrangements such as public-private and government partnerships were revisited in terms of their potential to capacitate local governments and enhance infrastructure and economic development.

Thematic issues
1) Social Inclusion and cohesion
The topics ranged from the planning of successful and sustainable cities and long-term environmental sustainability, to conflict in water and sanitation services for the urban poor. Home ownership was discussed as a strategy for strengthening the safety of cities. Homes, it was argued, create financial security and social engagement and are linked to higher education. The security of the state is improved through citizen’s investment in property and inclusion within the network of public services. Thus, efforts by Indian slum dwellers to improve their situation and build credit worthiness were lauded and governments were urged to respond to these citizen-based initiatives.  Aggressive measures were proposed to ensure human rights and housing are incorporated into national laws to allow poor citizens to reduce urban hopelessness and desperation. Developing countries have few support systems to promote local government partnerships with communities. As a result, a significant responsibility that should fall to government is passed on to NGOs.

2) Partnership and Finance
This discussion centred mostly on urban safety and security, municipal finance and the overall role of local government. Partnership was no longer an option, but a requirement, for the development of cities. Traditional sources of funding were not able to meet the increasing costs of urban management and, therefore, international financing institutions needed to begin negotiating with local governments in order to fast-track loans and grants for urban development. It became clear that many national governments were reluctant to delegate powers to local government structures resulting in delayed development and increased incapacitation of the local government structures. Public debate and civic engagements were seen as one of the mechanisms for improving municipal capacity to manage resources and access capital markets.  Individual and household debt within low income communities and citizens’ rights and obligations continue to pose a significant dilemma for local government in terms of its obligation to provide infrastructure and related services. In general, it was asserted that it is the national government’s responsibility to provide guidance, funding and capacity building for local authorities. 

3) Urban Growth and development
This session included a broad review of the shape of cities, urban planning and management, and issues related to energy and how local actions can make a global impact. A highly controversial assertion that “poverty is the biggest polluter” helped frame the discussion. Emphasising sustainable and pro-poor growth requires that poor communities are seen not only as the clients of development but also as partners who bring resources to the planning exercise.  Expanding urban populations will see a growth factor of more than two million over the next few years. Governments in developing countries will need to learn from the land-use planning experience in other developing countries and a multi-faceted approach to urban development is required.  The usual calls were made for limiting vehicle use, encouraging of “pedestrianisation” and increased use of renewable energy sources.

Key points of agreement
1) The need for all urban players – citizens, local governments, state and provincial governments, national governments, the private sector and civil society organisations – to work harder to solve urban problems and challenges. There was widespread agreement that they must all do their part, rather than simply transfer responsibility to others.

2) Municipal leadership needs to take more risks and pursue innovation if cities are to achieve sustainable development. Greater Vancouver Regional District provided examples in sectors such as air and water quality, public transit and planning.

3) Appropriate engagements, partnerships and relationships need to be built in an inclusive manner to better understand challenges and develop practical solutions. Participants from many parts of the world presented examples that can serve as guideposts for these strategies.

4) A well-informed citizenry is required for cooperative action against poverty and underdevelopment. Accountable governance requires transparency in decision-making and executive action. Only then can effective strategies be discerned from the ineffective.

The highlights
The Forum witnessed a dramatic and fundamental shift in the apparent willingness of governments and local authorities to engage with all urban actors to improve the quality of life of people, their communities and cities. In several keynote addresses and in various discussions, government representatives showed a keen interest in being actively engaged with civil society organisations and their representatives, and in supporting initiatives that improved housing and access to basic services. The South African Minister of Housing, Lindiwe Sisulu, pledged to provide 25 000 government housing subsidies to the urban poor in the coming period. Slum upgrading and sustainable infrastructure development will be targeted for increased financial resources to attain targets set by the Millennium Declaration. There will be a shift in emphasis from international development finance to local capital markets with international donors expected to play a “catalytic role”. This role includes building the capacity and improving the credit-worthiness of cities, and the packaging of such assistance with seed capital. This form of financing has apparently been piloted by UN-HABITAT's Slum Upgrading Facility in line with paragraph 56(m) of the 2005 Millennium Summit Outcome, which calls for investments in pro-poor housing and urban infrastructure. The Forum stressed the important role of planners as agents of change and underlined the importance of sustainability as the backbone of new forms of planning.

The way forward
The spirit and enthusiasm evinced at the WUF3 showed that every participant was committed to the basic theme of the Forum on turning “Ideas into Action”. Hundreds of actionable ideas were proposed, described and exchanged. WUF3 concluded with a call for strengthening partnerships for urban development, as well as with a growing recognition of the need to address underlying causes of urbanisation. UN-HABITAT pledged to take the WUF3 outcomes to its Governing Council and, through it, to the UN General Assembly, with a call for a strengthened role of the United Nations System and international agencies in order to achieve the vision of sustainable human settlements for all. The Forum concluded that guidelines and policies for decentralisation of governance functions and the empowerment of local authorities are required to enable participating countries to engage civil society, the private sector and other stakeholders in transforming their respective cities, as Vancouver did in the follow-up to the first Habitat Conference in 1976.

The Local Government Transformer Vol. 12 No. 5 Oct/Nov 2006