Global Urban Futures
UN-Habitat partners with the Global Urban Futures Project within the New School, New America, the Huairou Comission, and Next City on a two-part event to mark the occasion of the Post 2015 Development Summit in New York. The broad focus is on the Sustainable Development Goals and plans for a Safer Cities Campaign in the lead up to Habitat III.

The first part will detail and discuss the UN-Habitat Safer Cities progress over the past 20 years with specific case studies and evidence of what works. The Mayors of Johannesburg, Palermo, and Dakar will discuss the importance of universal access to safe public spaces in making cities safe for every citizen. This session will also discuss implications of the SDGs for UN-Habitat’s on-going work.

The second part will present and discuss the pre-launch of a Campaign for Safer Public Spaces and Streets, seeking input and critical feedback from experts and the public regarding its content and focus. The Campaign will be officially launched at Habitat III in Quito in 2016.

Safer Cities is a multi-sector and multi-discipline programme approach based on the intersection of urban development and security. As a UN-Habitat programme approach, Safer Cities is a flagship for the agency in promoting social inclusive urbanisation by encouraging mixed-land use and people-centred design as part of a wider social notion on the co-production of safety for all. It is rooted in a prevention policy frame: advocating safety as a public good and public space as the arena for the production of safety for all, in particular the most vulnerable, and the site for the construction of citizens’ values and rights.

Safer Cities, based on its 20 years of tested methodology and practice in over 80 municipalities in 24 countries, promises to be one of the foundational guides for the realisation of SDG 11 Target 7 on the realisation of safe and inclusive public spaces, particularly for women, children, the elderly and persons with special abilities.

Friday, September 25, 2015 at 10:00 am to 12:30 pm
Wollman Hall, Eugene Lang College, B500
65 West 11th Street Room B500, New York, NY 10003