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The Council Board of City Space Architecture at the 12th World Urban Forum in Cairo (from left to right): Manfredo Manfredini (New Zealand), Greg Mews (Australia), Michelle Pannone (USA) and Luisa Bravo (Italy).
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The World Urban Forum (WUF) is the premier global conference on sustainable urbanisation. It was established in 2001 by the United Nations to examine one of the most pressing issues facing the world today: rapid urbanisation and its impact on communities, cities, economies, climate change and policies.
The 12th session of the World Urban Forum (WUF12) took place in Cairo on 4-8 November 2024 under the theme "It All Starts at Home: Local Actions for Sustainable Cities and Communities" and was the largest in the Forum’s history, with participants at the venue and online totaling more than 63,000 people from 182 countries, 60 ministries and 96 mayors, and more than 700 partner-led events. The Forum also marked a return to the African continent after 20 years. The opening ceremony featured four heads of state, from Yemen, Sudan, the State of Palestine, and the host country Egypt. Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, President of Egypt, noted that WUF12 comes at a time of crises and wars, and called for halting the destruction of settlements, supporting poor communities, and developing new projects to provide housing for all. The Forum took place between two major global events: the UN General Assembly’s adoption of the high-level Pact for the Future in September 2024, and the UN Climate Change Conference in Baku, Azerbaijan, which was expected to adopt a new collective quantified goal for climate finance. WUF12 was, therefore, an opportunity to lend momentum and solidify key global commitments for sustainable development.
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City Space Architecture actively participated as an accredited stakeholder and partner of UN-Habitat and promoted and coordinated three events selected by WUF12 Secretariat and included in the official program of the Forum:
- Training event: Public Space Academy, for the advancement of knowledge and design of public space to present anddiscuss the importance of public space, intended not merely as a design activity related to landscape urbanism or infrastructure facilities, but rather as a key component of a complex technical and political process dealing with land use, environment, infrastructure networks, social issues, and policy-making, in response also to global trends such as massive urbanization, privatization, and gentrification. It was promoted in collaboration with the Ove Arup Foundation, UN-Habitat and the German University in Cairo (GUC) and included group sessions facilitated by City Space Architecture's senior mentors and GUC students as junior mentors, and an exercise on Cairo's public spaces in new suburban developments;
- Networking event: Inclusive and Equitable Public Space, a policy framework promoted in collaboration with World Blind Union, Global Infrastructure Basel Foundation (in regard of the Safe and Sound Cities Program - S2Cities) and with Consortium from Sustainable Urbanization (CSU), this event was intended to help demonstrate levels of progress towards achieving inclusive, accessible, sustainable and resilient public spaces at the local level in line with the New Urban Agenda (NUA) and SDG 11, in regard of women, youth, older persons and persons with disabilities, ensuring accessibility, safety and equity;
- Side event at the Urban Library: Shaping the public space discourse with unheard, marginalized and young scholars promoted in collaboration with UN-Habitat and with CAPS - Centre on African Public Space, to present three thematic issues of The Journal of Public Space, that open opportunities for marginalized scholars to argue their perspectives in the academic world. The three issues are: 1) Public Space and Placemaking in African Cities, related to the African continent, developed in collaboration with CAPS - Centre on African Public Spaces; 2) Let Her Guide You, on gender perspectives, with the engagement of young scholars that have been working on the Her City programme - in collaboration with UN-Habitat; 3) Young Gamechangers, presenting young perspectives on health and well-being, as part of the Young Gamechanger initiative developed by UN-Habitat in collaboration with WHO.
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In addition, City Space Architecture was selected as an exhibitor to participate in the WUF12 Urban Expo with an exhibition on Planning Values in Cities with Affordable Housing and Public Spaces for All developed in collaboration with ISOCARP - International Society of City and Regional Planners, RTPI - Royal Town Planning Institute, UPSC - Urban Planning Society of China and APA - American Planning Association. The WUF12 Urban Expo hosted over 140 exhibitors from 51 countries. We partnered with these global planning organizations as members of GPN - Global Planners Network and we all together celebrated World Town Planning Day on 8th November focusing on the theme "Homes Start with Planning" recognizing the role of planning and planners in delivering homes that meets the needs of our communities, and in helping to create equitable, inclusive, and sustainable public spaces for all.