The 11th World Urban Forum has come at a crucial time when cities are coping with the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. It presents an opportunity for urban regions to evolve and engage in a dialogue, which enables knowledge sharing for better urban governance. Making its debut in the Central Europe region, the location of the event, Katowice, was a strategic and important location owing to the regional disturbances. The city’s history, which was once the land of miners, is an inspiration for many others.
The five-day conference comprised various events and sessions relevant to the changing faces of urban regions, such as the World Assembly, Voices from cities, discussion on Localising SDGs, disabled friendly and inclusive cities, and many others. Inclusion of the disabled population in cities and prioritising it at the planning level was the special emphasis of this year’s event. The National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA), through the launch of special certificate course named “Fundamentals of Disability Inclusion”, reinforced the need to make cities inclusive and accessible for all. As per the data of World Health Organisation, almost 15 per cent of the global population is in the category of Persons with Disabilities (PwDs), and thus the future cities should be inclusive of all.
Sanjay Kumar, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA), Government of India, who was part of the Indian delegation to WUF 11, talked about various programmes such as Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban). In the span of seven years, the Government of India has sanctioned more than 122 lakh houses through this flagship urban housing scheme. This has contributed to the central government’s mission of providing Housing for All in Indian cities.
The event also highlighted various issues and suggested ways to tackle the growing urban challenges through the launch of the World Cities Report 2022. The report underlined that the percentage share of the global urban population, which was
25 per cent in 1950, has doubled to 50 per cent by 2020. This growth gives birth to various challenges, such as the rise of informal settlements and employment in cities. The report also showed the percentage of informal employment in Indian cities such as Pune (58 per cent), Chennai (65 per cent), Delhi (71 per cent), and Mumbai
(80 per cent). People engaged in informal employment in cities have suffered greatly during the pandemic. This has propelled the local governments to prioritise such populations’ housing and livelihood woes and integrate them into urban planning. The Government of India, through schemes such Pradhan Mantri Street Vendors Atmanirbhar Nidhi (PMSVANidhi), is handholding the informal population to support their livelihood in cities. WUF 11 created an opportunity for cities to learn from best practices of other prosperous cities and implement them locally to produce desired results. The Forum awarded some of the best innovations and practices under the Urban Innovation Awards. WUF 11 is an important and much-needed global dialogue and its outcomes must be taken on priority by countries worldwide. In mitigating the effects of climate change, cities have to play a significant role as they are the prime producer and consumers of products and activities that harm the environment. It is high time that urban regions realise their role and work to create sustainable and safe cities.
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