World Bulletin
Cities, Where Half the World Calls HomeBy Elsie Akwara
Most Afghan cities, like Kabul, are not women-friendly because of discrimination in politics and the economy. UN Photo/Rasna Warah
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March 3 – This year’s theme for the biannual World Urban Forum, “The Right to the City - Bridging the Urban Divide,” parallels UN Habitat’s report on the state of the world’s cities, 2010-2011. In case you need a translation for the phrase “right to the city,” it refers to urban governments’ responsibilities to provide citizens housing, land and urban services, particularly the poor.
Given that half the world’s population lives in towns and cities, and that in the next 50 years, two-thirds are projected to reside in these areas, basic services will be increasingly in demand. What could be more appropriate a setting for the forum than a metropolis of 14 million – Rio de Janeiro?
To address both the current and evergreen issues dominating urban regions, new topics have been added to the stable of previous agendas. One special session will tackle the rebuilding of Haiti; another will focus on “south-south cooperation,” or improving cities in the Southern Hemisphere. A third will discuss the Brazilian government’s slum policies. Participation in that topic will include people from the governments of Thailand, Peru, Mexico and Argentina as well as from international institutions like the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank and Cities Alliance.
The US State Department, which is also participating in the forum, has invited the private sector to join, citing cities as the “economic development engine of the future,” according to its Web site. Some of the types of companies that the site suggested would be natural for the event are those engaged in urban planning, sustainable architecture, information technology and economic development. Besides government representatives, American nongovernmental organizations will be taking part as well. (For more information, contact Heidi Smith, Economic Officer, Western Hemisphere Affairs, Department of State at SmithHJ@State.gov, or visit www.unhabitat.org/wuf.)
The forum, taking place from March 22 to 26, is produced by UN Habitat, which promotes urban areas with an eye toward ensuring housing for everyone. Established in 2002 by the United Nations, the first forum took place in Nairobi, where UN Habitat is based.
From the start, the forum was meant to examine the rapid acceleration of urbanization on communities, cities, economies, climate change and policies; in other words, figuring out how to make a city habitable as possible, including reducing inequality and poverty, understanding cultural diversity, fostering women-friendly environments and seeding sustainable development.
This year, 15,000 participants are expected, including federal leaders, mayors, ministers, diplomats, nongovernmental and community organizations, academics, grassroots groups and youth and slum dweller groups. The forum will feature thematic dialogues, debates, networking events, roundtables, training seminars and an exhibition.
One idea that gained traction previously and will come up again is women-friendly cities. Safety is a major aspect marking such a designation, starting with basics like being unafraid to go out at night alone to feeling comfortable in public places. The forum’s gender and women roundtable and other discussions will zero in on this topic.
In 2004, Cebu City and Naga City in the Philippines and Visakhapatnam, on the east coast of India, won the women-friendly cities award from UN Habitat. These “inclusive cities” are deemed supportive and hospitable to women and minorities socially and economically as well as in the political arena, said Gora Mboup, chief of Global Urban Observatory at UN Habitat, in an interview with UNA-USA.
“Nairobi is not women-friendly because of the high rate of crime and violence against women, amounting to less gender equity especially in the economic arena,” Mboup added.
According to Mboup, “A city may be friendly economically, in the case of some Arab states, but lags behind in the inclusiveness of women in the political or cultural dome.”
Elsie Akwara is a publications intern at UNA-USA and an International relations major at Hunter College.
Keywords: World Urban Forum, UN Habitat, women-friendly cities, urbanization, sustainable development, urban growth, Cebu, Naga City, Visakhapatnam
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