Highlights from the Twelfth World Urban Forum (WUF12)

Cairo Call to Action: Local Actions for Sustainable Cities and Communities

The Twelfth session of the World Urban Forum (WUF12), held in Cairo, Egypt, gathered participants from around the globe to tackle the pressing challenges and opportunities of urbanisation. The forum's theme, "It All Starts at Home: Local Actions for Sustainable Cities and Communities," highlighted the crucial role of local initiatives in driving global progress toward developing sustainable urban communities. WUF12 focused on sharing experiences and best practices for addressing global urban challenges, such as housing availability and cost, commuting ease, water supply safety, access to public spaces, climate change impacts, and urban crises and conflicts. The concept of "home" at WUF12 extended beyond physical structures to include cultural, social, economic, and environmental dimensions of daily life, embodying the intangible attributes of belonging, meaning, and values that shape sustainable cities and communities.

Key Highlights:

• The GCRO participated in a networking session that provided a platform for sharing experiences, insights, and building capacity to promote sustainable urban development. This event, organised by members of the Global Urban Observatory Network (GUO-Net) and coordinated by UN-Habitat, featured diverse contributions from across the network. The primary goal was to highlight the importance of urban observatories in supporting local actions for sustainable cities and communities. Additionally, it sought to enhance the collaborative capacity of various urban knowledge institutions.
• The following day, GUO-Net and the Gauteng Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) hosted a training session titled, “Urban Observatory and Multi-Level Governance Techniques for Building Sustainable Towns and Cities.” GUO-Net presented on setting up a sustainable urban observatory, with Mr Dennis Mwaniki for UN-Habitat, discussing best practices and challenges. A panel discussion, moderated by Mr Rashid Seedat, included Eng. Saud Alfex from the Qassim Urban Observatory, Saudi Arabia, and a representative from the National Urban Observatory of Egypt, shared their experiences with urban observatories and sustainable development. The Gauteng COGTA team then presented on Multi-Level Governance and Integrated Development Planning, using the Sedibeng District Hub as a case study. Ms Lebogang Lechuba from the Gauteng City-Region Observatory (GCRO) moderated a panel on the implementation of South Africa's District Development Model (DDM).
• The GCRO delegation had the opportunity to visit the new administrative capital, located approximately 50km east of Cairo in the desert. Construction of this new capital began in 2016 and is being completed in phases, with the first phase finished ahead of the World Urban Forum (WUF). The city features a government precinct that includes offices for all ministries and departments, a large presidential square, the president’s residence, and a new parliament building. The entire central government will operate from this new capital, which currently has 48,000 government employees working there. The government precinct is bordered by a banking district and a new central business district (CBD) that boasts the tallest tower in Africa. The new capital will comprise twenty residential areas and a 650km road network designed to accommodate 6.5 million people. Life is gradually emerging in the city, and by the end of the year, it is expected that 10,000 families will have moved to this new urban centre.

The Cairo Call to Action from WUF12 is a comprehensive roadmap for local and global stakeholders to collaborate and drive sustainable urban development. The WUF provided valuable insights into the challenges and solutions developed by cities worldwide, highlighting shared challenges due to climate change, conflict, and migration. It also created a space for activists, researchers, NGOs, and political interests to work together for more sustainable cities. Exposure to diverse experiences and modes of work is crucial for opening new areas of inquiry for the GCRO and forming strategic partnerships for research and collaboration.