NEWS

         

Under the framework of the latest UCLG Retreat, on 26 and 27 January Barcelona hosted the launch for the 5th edition of the report produced by the Global Observatory on Local Democracy and Decentralization (GOLD), which will be published in 2019. As in previous editions, the GOLD V report will be divided into different chapters according to the type of government and its geographic scope, and it will include a chapter on metropolitan areas. This chapter will be coordinated jointly by the teams at the UCLG World Secretariat and the Metropolis Secretariat General.

The GOLD reports are an international benchmark for local, regional and metropolitan governments. Released every three years, the reports were first published in 2008, and are led by the team at the UCLG Global Observatory on Local Democracy and Decentralization. For each edition the team gathers information with a diverse vision of the role of subnational governments, in order to evaluate their progress in different areas, and to analyse their relationship with national governments and other regional, local and metropolitan governments. The GOLD reports are not limited to merely analysing and observing, but they also aim to establish a series of recommendations to improve the development of the policies analysed.

Over fifty experts from around the world took part in the meeting in Barcelona, with representatives from local and regional governments, academia and other organisations, who gathered to work on the guidelines, work methodology and objectives included in the report's 5th edition. Following GOLD IV, which focused on the role of sub-national governments in global agendas (Agenda 2030, New Urban Agenda, Sendai, COP21, etc.), the GOLD V report will look at how these agendas are being implemented on a local, regional and metropolitan level. A preliminary version of the GOLD V report should be presented at the upcoming United Nations High-Level Political Forum on implementing the Sustainable Development Goals, which will be held in New York between 9 and 18 July.

The chapter on metropolitan areas in GOLD V will be led by an interdisciplinary and cross-functional team of experts: Mariona Tomàs (professor at the University of Barcelona), Agustí Fernàndez (director of studies at Tornos Abogados), Sue Bannister (director of the consulting company City Insight) and Fabienne Perrucca (Urban governance expert, UN-Habitat). “The team brings together knowledge from different regions around the globe, and aims to offer a broad, comprehensive and balanced vision of the role of metropolitan areas in localising the SDGs, as well as analysing the potential correlations between this localisation process and whether or not there is governance with a metropolitan perspective” said Eugeni Villalbí, project officer for Metropolis Observatory, who took part in the process of putting the team together.