The Global Observance of World Cities Day 2016,Quito

UN-Habitat Quito, Ecuador, 02 November 2016

Coming only few days after the Habitat III Conference, the Global Observance of World Cities Day 2016 took place in Quito, Ecuador, in the historic scenario of the City Museum. The event organized by UN-Habitat, the City of Quito and the Shanghai Municipal People’s Government offered an opportunity for both local and international stakeholders to discuss instruments to effectively put into action the New Urban Agenda.

After listening the UN Secretary-General message , the session was opened by Mr.Bai Tinghui, Director of Shanghai Water Authority, representing the Vice Mayor of Shanghai, who shared China’s best practices on sustainable urbanization and transformative urban development in line with the Quito Declaration principles.

The Mayor of Quito, Mauricio Rodas, highlighted the commitment of Quito as Habitat III hosting-city in being pioneer in implementing the New Urban Agenda with a long term urban plan that will enhance the public transportation, urban security, and city’s environment.

Kumaresh Misra, Deputy Secretary-General of the Habitat III Conference pointed that “it is essential to keep the momentum created by the Habitat III Conference and use this to channel resources and support towards an effective implementation of the New Urban Agenda. For this reason the World Cities Day and other related initiatives acquire an even more important role to increasingly raise awareness on sustainable urbanization.”

The session also counted with the participation of Zhang Bing, Julio Echeverria and David Gouverneur as key note speakers of the roundtable Urban Talk on inclusive cities and informal settlements planning.

Furthermore, in Shanghai, it was organized a Forum on Urban Culture and Quality of City Life by the Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Planning and Land Resources.