Post-Habitat III Congress

| Subject: International Cooperation, Metropolis, International Relations

2nd panel of experts to reflect on the subject areas of the next Post-Habitat III International Congress

The last 30th of January took place the second AMB meeting between representatives of several public and private organisations and entities linked to international affairs and various members of the AMB Area for International Relations and Cooperation.

The most shared conclusion was the importance of the role these cities and metropolitan areas have in the global world and it is the very core that needs to be developed in order to improve the lives of citizens and build fairer and more equitable and democratic territories.

The panel of experts, chaired by the Vice President of the AMB Area for International Relations and Cooperation, Alfred Bosch, included Mateu Hernández, Executive Director of Barcelona Global; Montse Pi, Lecturer of Public International Law in the UAB; Antoni Segura, President of CIDOB; Octavi de la Varga, Secretary General of Metròpolis, and Salvador Martí, Lecturer of Political Sciences in UdG.

Challenges of the metropolis

The central pillar of the session was, firstly, the presentation by the Vice President Alfred Bosch of the international congress "The challenges of the metropolis beyond Habitat III: a contribution to the New Urban Agenda", that will take place on the 22nd and 23rd of May of 2018 in Barcelona.

Then, the members of the Panel, according to their area of expertise, contributed with their proposals to enrich the content of the congress, depending on the different subject areas to be discussed: sustainability, social cohesion, economic development and land use and urban planning.

The contributions have revolved around several key points, for example, the needs and challenges of the AMB, the actors and agents involved or relevant experiences of the metropolitan sphere on a global scale.

Celebrating this congress has proven to be an excellent opportunity to draw attention to the metropolitan issue, as well as to highlight the importance of the AMB taking part in this international debate. The discussion of security in public spaces has also been introduced, as it constitutes a key issue in many metropolitan areas from all over the world. In relation to the right to the city, as a transversal issue, it has been stressed the importance of tackling it and shaping it into specific proposals on a metropolitan scale.

Despite the differences amongst cities in the world, we cannot forget that many of the challenges are shared, such as governance and financing.

The first panel of experts was held last 4th of July of 2017, where the current challenges that the world agenda suggests were identified and the existing strategies linked to the specific situations related to the metropolis were analysed.

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