Metropolis starts the campaign to request the officialisation of World Metropolitan Day
As 7 October approaches, Metropolis calls upon mayors and metropolitan leaders to support a global campaign aiming to proclaim World Metropolitan Day an official international day adopted by the UN General Assembly.
Everyday life does not recognise administrative boundaries. We live, study, work and visit friends and family beyond the borders of our municipality. More than that, the climate crisis and most of the greatest challenges of our era know no frontiers.
Metropolitan governance is a response to this. It is a way of responding to everyday life issues at scale. However, efforts to manage and plan at this scale are often undermined by administrative and political boundaries, disputes over competencies and a lack of shared strategic vision. To advance social, economic, environmental and spatial justice, we must move away from these artificial divisions and bring our societies closer together.
World Metropolitan Day seeks to bring to the forefront these complex difficulties, spark partnerships and celebrate togetherness. Every 7 October, World Metropolitan Day commemorates the adoption of the Montreal Declaration on Metropolitan Areas and brings together metropolitan leaders all over the globe to share bold ideas and showcase groundbreaking solutions to the challenges of our communities and the planet.
Since 2018, this Metropolis and UN-Habitat campaign has promoted a better urban future and encouraged global leaders to reaffirm the global commitment to achieving sustainable development from a wider perspective. As 60% of the world’s urban population live, work and care for each other in metropolitan areas, it is crucial to reaffirm global commitments to continue creating more integrated metropolitan spaces.
"City life is, increasingly, metropolitan: unbound by administrative limits, connecting the core city to its immediate surroundings’’, said Jordi Vaquer, Secretary-General of Metropolis, the global network of major cities and metropolitan areas. "The World Metropolitan Day is an opportunity to give due attention to metropolitan realities; turning it into an official international day of the United Nations will ensure increased visibility and regular attention by local authorities and international players".
Be part of the change and join Metropolis and many other cities in a petition to draw attention to World Metropolitan Day and proclaim this key date an official international day adopted by the UN General Assembly.
Want to be announced as part of the World Metropolitan Day officialisation campaign?
Join the campaign today by writing to worldmetropolitanday@