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On-line training program on Resilient City (1st edition)

Online

To highlight the challenges and threats that cities must face in order to remain economically, socially and disaster resilient, Metropolis jointly with SHRDC, UCLG and with the collaboration of ASPAC organized a three weeks on-line training program called “Resilient City.

Contents

 

 

Metropolis organized the second session of this course, which was based on the experiences of Tehran, Istanbul, and Berlin, who gave testimonies and share their experiences providing tools to contribute to the creation of policies for a more resilient metropolitan space. 

If you want to find more about this learning program, you can read the Guidebook and the news.

 

infographic

 

Video of the session

Related resources

/sites/default/files/issue_paper_3-the_metropolitan_scale_of_resilience.pdf
/sites/default/files/issue_paper_3-la_resiliencia_a_escala_metropolitana.pdf
/sites/default/files/issue_paper_3-_resilience_a_lechelle_metropolitaine.pdf
The future of metropolises is based on their capacity to be resilient to resist the challenges the world will experience in the next decades. Climate change, migrations, electric mobility transition… Cities must be prepared for what has to come and search for solutions and opportunities that will let them overcome these problems.

Climate change is one of the main drivers that is accelerating transformations in metropolitan spaces. Migrations due to ecological disasters in vulnerable regions are attracting people to cities where there are more opportunities to live, but this also grows problems that already exist in urban areas, like pollution, access to housing or scarcity of water.

Claiming social cohesion in growing multicultural societies, health problems derived from contamination, mobility between regions or droughts and floods due to weather changes are not only responsibilities of metropolises, so they must determine, according to their interests and limitations, how they can address them and who they have to work with, if regional actors, boundary municipalities, or both.

Collaboration between cities with similar challenges, monitoring the possible problems and financing reliable arrangements are some of the key elements that metropolises have to take a look into to endure the next years, solutions that the network 100 Resilient Cities describe in the third publication from the Issue Paper series.
The Metropolitan scale of resilience · Issue paper #3
Related content

Barcelona’s Experience in Resilience: setting the stage for building resilient cities

Exploring new spaces of collaboration for metropolitan resilience
Urban Resilience Summit 2017

Building Resilience at the Metropolitan Scale

The best strategy for city governance when an emergency combines with an entrenched crisis: resilience, empathy and caring
Speakers
  • Constantin Ahrens, liaison officer to the Berlin fire brigade, Senate Department for the Interior and Sport
  • Dr. Sadredin Alipour, CEO of Waste Management Organization: the KAP project, Tehran 
  • Mr. Evrim Yavuz, Senior geophysicist, IMM’s Directorate of Earthquake and Geotechnical Investigation, Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality
  • Ms. Melis Bayraklı, Senior geophysicist, IMM’s Directorate of Earthquake and Geotechnical Investigation, Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality
  • Juan Carlos Uribe, UCLG
  • Bernardia Irawati Tjandradewi, UCLG ASPAC Secretary General
Session date
End date
Topic
Sustainability and climate change
Members
Seoul
Tehran
Berlin
Istanbul
SDGs
Supported by
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The metropolitan governance in Africa. Peer Learning From Local Experiences

The metropolitan governance in Africa

Online

Based on a pedagogical content designed by Metropolis, this learning program aims to introduce the metropolitan reality and how metropolitan governance with a gender perspective can be the key to face the challenges and threats that surround our metropolises. In addition, the course seeks to present governance models, as well as to emphasise on the importance of  the Right to the city in a metropolitan context.

Contents

Nowadays, the metropolitan phenomenon is a reality of urban dynamics in large cities and metropolises. Metropolisation as a process of growth of urban areas into a larger functional urban unit is underway in several urban areas in Africa (Metropolis, 2019). This makes these areas not only places where economic issues are at stake (production of national growth) but also places where social and environmental issues are crucial (accessibility to urban services, housing, social cohesion, flooding). It is therefore on the scale of metropolitan areas that are “more diluted and more compact, more integral and discontinuous” (Ascher, 1995) that the urban phenomenon must be understood.

The cities and metropolises are called upon to provide responses at the right functional scale to address the challenges of socio-spatial inequalities, sustainability, resilience and urban innovation. These challenges are at the heart of the 2030 Agenda to “Build resilient infrastructure and foster innovation” (SDG9), “Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable” (SDG11) and “Adopt innovative digital solutions” (SDG 17).

 

More information
Session 1. Models of Metropolitan Governance

In this first webinar, based on the pedagogical content of the publication Models of Metropolitan Governance, we analysed the different metropolitan governments models (metropolitan governments, sectoral metropolitan agencies, vertical coordination, voluntary cooperation) while looking at the situation of Africa. 

We also explored the elements that characterise metropolitan governance models: financing, competences, democratic representation, multilevel relations and the main challenges and strategies to promote a form of metropolitan governance with a gender perspective.

The program of the session, protagonized by the experts from City Insight, was divided in two parts. First of all, they related the theoretical framework with the African context and, after that, they analysed the implementation of a gender approach.

If you want to know more about the session, you can read the news

 

Video of the session

 

Session 2. Right to the Metropolitan City in the Framework of the New Urban Agenda and the 2030 Agenda
portada

 

In the second webinar of this course, based on the pedagogical content of the publication Right to metropolitan city in the framework of the NUA and the 2030 Agenda, we addressed the importance of reconsidering the Right to the City in a metropolitan context that reflects the current reality of urban dynamics. The concept of the Right to the city is not new but remains fully current. It references the right to “create” a city as a concern of urban life. It thus focuses on the capability of the people who live in the city to transform it and for society to be transformed through it.

We also analysed four different manifestations of the right to the city in the African context: the right to housing; the right to public space; the right to urban security from a feminist perspective; and the right to metropolitan mobility.

For more information, you can visit the program and read the news

Session 3. Case studies
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This webinar was an opportunity, first, to understand the issues of sustainability, resilience and urban intelligence, second, to elucidate how they are embodied at the metropolitan scale, and third, to focus on the challenges and obstacles that African cities and metropolises face in deploying resilience strategies and innovative digital solutions.

Participants were able to learn more about different experiences from Morocco (in particular from Fez) and South Africa.

For more information about the third session, you can read the concept note

Video of the session

 

Session 4. Peer Learning From Local Experiences
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During the 4th session of this course: “Peer Learning From Local Experiences” city managers from Rabat, Tunis, Cairo, Nouakchott, Abdijan, Harare and Kigali participated in a peer review of their local experiences facing the challenges produced by the rapid urban growth and the COVID-19 pandemic, giving a particular mention to the role of digitalisation.

For more information, you can read the concept note in english and french or consult the program of the session in english and french. 

 

Related resources

African metropolitan report
/sites/default/files/resources/african-metropolitan-reoprt.pdf
/sites/default/files/resources/rapport-metropolitain-africain.pdf
Authors Sue Bannister and Michael Sutcliffe of the ‘African Metropolitan Report’, analyse the data extracted from the Metropolis Observatory to study and report on the situation of the growing cities in Africa. The researchers use indicators of 17 metropolitan spaces from North to South of the continent, mainly from coastal regions, and study them in relation to one another.

The metropolitan indicators that are measured in this paper are the Context and Governance of each of the cities, the Economic Development of the metropolitan regions, the Social Cohesion of the society, the Environmental Sustainability, and the Quality of Life their citizens are enjoying.

The African continent is the first of this series of analyses, because it is one of the fastest urbanising regions in the world. And due to the fact that in 2019, in Durban, South Africa, it hosted the World Summit of Local and Regional Leaders convened by United Cities and Local Governments, whose metropolitan section is operated by Metropolis.
African Metropolitan Report
Related content

African metropolitan cities and regions get together to face challenges of rampant urbanization

Shedding light on African metropolisation

The Africa Brand Summit embraces the new role of metropolises in the continent's development
Speakers
  • Michael Sutcliffe, co-director of City Insight, an agency that provides insight, information and advice on local level development
  • Sue Bannister, co-director of City Insight, an agency that provides insight, information and advice on local level development
  • Jean-Pierre Elong MBassi, UCLG Africa Secretary General.
  • Octavi de la Varga, Metropolis Secretary general.
  • Nomkita Fani, Director Intermediate Cities and Spatial Planning at Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs
  • Mpilo Ngubane, Executive Director of Cifal Durban, Chief Learning Officer of the eThekwini Municipal Academy and Adjunct Professor of Research at UNISA’s School of Business Leadership (SBL).
  • Genevieve Hartley, Program Manager, MILE
  • Dr Mostafa Kheireddine, Urban planner of the University of Montreal, Researcher in city sciences, Rabat
  • Kate Joseph, Deputy director from the Group Strategy Policy Coordination and Relations from Johannesburg
  • Ane Miren Ibañez Zugazaga, Director of BilbaoTIK, a technology company of the Bilbao City Council
  • El Khettab Mohamed, Communal Council of Fès, Morroco.
  • Moinul Zaber, United Nations University e-GOV
  • Matteo Gattola, Founder of Environ: "Mobility and Lighting", Italy.
  • Morris Mbolela, UCLG Africa Deputy Secretary General
  • Charles Patsika, Special Advisor for Decentralised Cooperation at UCLG Africa
  • Khaled Abdel Aal, Governor of Cairo, Arab Republic of Egypt
  • Kamal El Amrani, Rabat Vice-President of the Communal Council of Rabat, Morocco
  • Souad Abderahim, Mayor of Tunis, Tunisia.
  • Vicent N’Cho, Deputy Governor of Abidjan, Ivory Coast.
  • Jacob Mafume, Mayor of Harare, Zimbabwe.
  • Taleb Abderrahmane El Mahjoub, Mayor of Tevragh Zeina, Mauritania.
  • Gomado Koamy Gbloekpo, Mayor of the Commune of Golfe,Togo.
Session date
End date
Topic
Gender equality
Governance and citizen engagement
Members
Abidjan
Casablanca
Johannesburg
Nouakchott
Rabat
SDGs
Hosted by

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Rethinking metropolitan governance

Metropolitan governance is a process of coordination of stakeholders, social groups and institutions with the intention of delivering on debated objectives that have been discussed collectively and defined in fragmented environments. It involves a concept that spread as of the 1990s which is distinguished from the classic notion of “governance” by taking a broader view that covers not only the role of the public sector but also the private one in metropolitan governability.

La gobernanza metropolitana es un proceso de coordinación de actores, de grupos sociales y de instituciones con la intención de alcanzar unos objetivos debatidos que se han discutido colectivamente y se han definido en entornos fragmentados. Se trata de un concepto extendido a partir de los años 1990 que se distingue de la noción clásica de “gobierno” por una visión más amplia que incluye el papel del sector público, pero también privado en la gobernabilidad metropolitana.

Contents
  • Models of metropolitan governance
  • The right to the city at the metropolitan scale
  • Metropolitan public space from a gender perspective
  • The right to housing in metropolises
  • Tackling urban security
  • The right to metropolitan mobility

  • Modelos de gobernanza metropolitana
  • El derecho a la ciudad a escala metropolitana
  • El espacio público metropolitano desde una perspectiva de género
  • El derecho a la vivienda en las metrópolis
  • Abordar la seguridad urbana
  • El derecho a la movilidad metropolitana

More information

Module 1

Models of metropolitan governance

Metropolitan governance is “a process of coordination of stakeholders, social groups and institutions with the intention of delivering on debated objectives that have been discussed collectively and defined in fragmented environments” (Borraz and Le Galès, 2001: 350). It involves a concept that spread as of the 1990s which is distinguished from the classic notion of “governance” by taking a broader view that covers not only the role of the public sector but also the private one in metropolitan governability (Jouve and Lefèvre, 1999).

You can read the module here

What are the models of metropolitan governance?

Four main models of metropolitan governance can be differentiated, depending on their degree of institutionalisation:

  • Metropolitan governments: Structures expressly created to implement metropolitan-scale policies with a view of the whole. They can take the form of a “metropolitan city” from the merger of municipalities or uphold the municipal structure and generate a second level of government with indirect election.
  • Sector-based metropolitan agencies: Organisations that are more technical than political and which plan and manage a single service (public transit, environment, etc.). They usually have a model of indirect representation with funding deriving from fees and transfers.
  • Vertical coordination: This is a model where there is no initial recognition of the metropolitan reality and policies are implemented through previously existing areas of government. Remits, funding and representation depend on the territorial structure of the country.
  • Voluntary cooperation among municipalities: This is a model where local representatives are organised at their own initiative. It can take the form of an association of municipalities with a legal framework according to the political will of its members, or a strategic planning association to generate consensus spaces among the parties.
Variables for analysing metropolitan governance

Governance model remits differ according to the size and type of issues concerning the physical world (hard policies) or the socioeconomic world (soft policies); whether or not decision-making is exclusive, and the degree of coverage of these decisions in line with whether they are binding or not.

Funding goes a long way to determining the measure of autonomy of metropolitan structures in relation to the amount of material resources and funding source, which is generally combined between transfers from cities and fees on services.

Representation and citizen engagement in metropolitan governments is generally via models of indirect election, where city halls and government departments form part of the metropolitan structure as representatives of the city where they were chosen.

Multilevel relations give an account of how metropolitan areas are situated in a multilevel governance setting in relation to the articulation between public and private stakeholders (horizontal relations) or between different levels of government (vertical relations).

How can we onboard the gender perspective in metropolitan governance?

Gender-sensitive governance must deliver on 4 challenges:

  • Tackle entrenched gender inequalities
  • Feminise decision-making
  • Incorporate a plurality of views in governance processes
  • Commit to a political agenda that recognises the role of women in governance institutions and processes. (Put the discrimination faced by women in governance institutions and processes on the political agenda)
How can we achieve more balanced governance?

Put citizens’ rights at the heart of political action, with more solid and transparent accountability systems.

  • Organise more inclusive and participatory processes of engagement which identify the different needs of women and men.
  • Raise awareness among governance institutions and stakeholders around gender issues.
  • Promote a new distribution of work time for a good work/life balance which encourages forms of distribution and joint responsibility for care between the genders, in addition to giving access to free care facilities.

Module 2

Right to metropolitan city in the framework of the NUA and the 2030 Agenda

The preamble to the World Charter for the Right to the City (2004) coordinated by Habitat International Coalition (HIC) references the right to the city through a series of points that make it possible to analyse it as a complex right, interdependent on other human rights, into which it is integrated in a new way of strengthening its vindication. From its reading we can conclude that it is a human and therefore universal right. Its status of a collective right stems from the city understood as a common good and gives legitimacy to the action and organisation of the more underprivileged and infringed sectors that live there.

You can read the module here

Why talk about the right to the city on a metropolitan scale?

Four main models of metropolitan governance can be differentiated, depending on their degree of institutionalisation:

  • To broaden the focus on the improvement of people’s quality of life, traditionally centred on housing and neighbourhoods, towards the metropolitan reality of the city that covers the peripheral, periurban and rural environment.
  • As a mechanism to protect the population owing to the acceleration of urbanisation processes.
  • To generate bottom-up structures of metropolitan governance, with a critical and community perspective, capable of powering the improvement in quality of life from needs themselves and the expansion of real citizenship.
  • To leverage a new way of promotion, respect, defence and realisation of civil, political, economic, social, cultural and environmental rights, guaranteed in regional and international human rights instruments.
  • To assume the interdependency of the metropolitan city and foster solidarity among the diverse contexts and experiences that exist within a common metropolitan reality.
2030 Agenda: the urgency of sustainable development

If we look at the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) we can see the crosscutting character and importance they all have for metropolitan public policies. However, SDG 5 and SDG 11 have a strategic importance regarding the right to the city and the construction of the metropolitan agenda.

SDG 5. Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls[1]

SDG 11. Make cities and human settlements, safe, resilient and sustainable

More information: https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/es/gender-equality/

The New Urban Agenda: metropolitan scale and right to the city

The New Urban Agenda (NUA) corresponds with the 2030 Agenda with regards the metropolitan approach committed to the right to the city. In their conception, metropolitan areas are key to promoting viable communities at different scales. The document indicates action lines in relation to the eleventh sustainable development goal of the 2030 Agenda: “Making cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable”

  • Encourage and use metropolitan planning to support viable groups
  • Work from integral and inclusive approaches
  • Support metropolitan policies on sustainable development
  • Provide effective responses to growth.
  • Foster sustainable mobility
  • Promote the improvement of marginal neighbourhoods and urban revitalisation
  • Deploy measures that ensure respect for the rights of existing populations
  • Introduce the multilevel approach to metropolitan policies (local, metropolitan, regional and state governments).
Markus Spiske The public space from a feminist perspective
Ricardo Gomez The right to housing in the metropolitan city
Kai Pilger The right to urban security from the gender perspective
Matthias BergThe right to metropolitan mobility

Module 3

Metropolitan Economic and Sustainable Development Practices and Policies: A Critical Look

Smart city and urban resilience strategies are approached at a metropolitan scale to step up to the battle against social inequality and climate change.

You can read the module here

Main criticisms around the Smart City concept
  • Technological determinism that can overestimate the transformative power of technology, while the nontech sides of urban problems are ignored.
  • The geographic and detextualised vision that can double down on splintering or inequalities by shoring up existing power relations
  • Depoliticising, disciplining and delimiting the notion of citizenship. A rhetoric of political neutrality of technology that prevents the politicisation of urban issues and transfers them to the technical and commercial sphere.
  • Privatisation of urban management and technological dependence with the risk that the city increasingly expresses the desires, images and values of the private sector instead of public values.
  • Private appropriation of urban data that can generate data extractivism by the companies that dominate the market.
  • Environmental impacts of smart city technologies because of the metals and materials used, which hard to recycle. Also the energy needed to maintain data archiving infrastructures.
  • New risks in urban management. For example, hacking of urban data platforms or the dependency on experts with highly specialised knowledge of technology could result in nondemocratic and unequal endpoints.
Redirecting strategies towards citizens

Increasingly more urban areas are redirecting their technological urban strategies towards citizen-focused models where technology attempts to contribute to ‘bottom-up’ urban transformation. These processes are made easier by:

Examples: The opportunities afforded by technologies, with the mainstreaming of a critical perspective, can have a major impact on urban area planning and governance.

  • The rollout of new tech architectures and infrastructures that make it possible to put the public at the heart of urban governance and
  • The emergence of new forms of urban governance models.

Cape Town Water Map

A digital mapping system was launched in 2018 encouraging the population to abide by water restrictions during a severe drought. Online mapping was used to acknowledge and compensate households that complied with the saving objectives, with colour symbols displayed on the outside of homes. The campaign enjoyed widespread engagement and its impact contributed to reducing domestic water use in the city.

More information: City of Cape Town's Water Map

Barrio digital. La Paz

Barrio Digital is a web platform enabling transactions with the public and also the collection of information on their requirements to coordinate responses with neighbourhood improvement programmes, engagement and planning and infrastructure areas. The platform can be provided online or offline (via intranet), thus adapting to the city’s different realities. Its main medium of interaction is via text messages, which most mobile phones have.

More information: Barrio Digital

Gender indicators system. Buenos Aires

The construction, outreach and improvement of gender indicator systems in different planning and statistics areas in Buenos Aires is framed in Sustainable Development Goal 5: “Gender Equality” since they make it possible to monitor the 2030 Agenda on the basis of information distributed by sex. They therefore promote the production of gender-responsive statistical information for decision-making. The data is regularly updated and new indicators onboarded.

More information: Gender indicators system

Decidim Barcelona

Decidim Barcelona is a digital participation platform that originated in the exploration of open source tools for direct democracy in Barcelona, Madrid, Helsinki and Reykjavik through the D-CENT (Decentralised Citizen Participation Technologies) project funded by the European Union (2013-2016). Its core feature is that it can be improved on and reused by any person or entity, and other cities and social movements have now incorporated it. Several participatory processes are currently being implemented through the platform, such as the Plan Clima and Participatory Budgeting which guides the city’s Municipal Action Programme.

More information: Decidim.barcelona | Democratic Innovation

Módulo 1

Modelos de gobernanza metropolitana

La gobernanza metropolitana es “un proceso de coordinación de actores, de grupos sociales y de instituciones con la intención de alcanzar unos objetivos debatidos que se han discutido colectivamente y se han definido en entornos fragmentados” (Borraz y Le Galès, 2001: 350). Se trata de un concepto extendido a partir de los años 1990 que se distingue de la noción clásica de “gobierno” por una visión más amplia que incluye el papel del sector público, pero también privado en la gobernabilidad metropolitana (Jouve y Lefèvre, 1999).

Puedes leer el módulo aquí

¿Cuáles son los modelos de gobernanza metropolitana?

Según su grado de institucionalización se pueden diferenciar cuatro modelos principales de gobernanza metropolitana:

  • Gobiernos metropolitanos: Son estructuras creadas expresamente para implementar políticas a escala metropolitana con una visión de conjunto. Pueden conformarse como “ciudad metropolitana” a partir de una fusión de municipios, o mantener la estructura municipal y generar un segundo nivel de gobierno con elección indirecta
  • Agencias metropolitanas sectoriales: Son entes más técnicos que políticos que planifican y gestionan un solo servicio (transporte público, medio ambiente, etc.) Suelen tener un modelo de representación indirecto con financiación derivadas de tasas y transferencias.
  • Coordinación vertical: Es un modelo donde no existe un reconocimiento inicial del hecho metropolitano y las políticas se realizan a través de ámbitos de gobierno previamente existentes. Las competencias, financiación y representación dependen de la estructura territorial del país.
  • Cooperación voluntaria entre municipios: Es un modelo donde los entes locales se organizan por iniciativa propia. Puede tomar la forma de mancomunidad / asociación de municipios con un marco legal según la voluntad política de sus integrantes. O bien conformarse como una asociación de planificación estratégica para generar espacios de consenso entre las partes.
Variables para el análisis de la gobernanza metropolitana

Las competencias de los modelos de gobernanza difieren según el volumen y tipo de temáticas, relacionadas con el medio físico(hard policies) o con el económico social (soft policies); por la exclusividad o no en la toma de decisiones y, por el grado de alcance de estas decisiones según sean vinculantes o no.

La financiación determina en gran medida el margen de autonomía de las estructuras metropolitanas en relación a la cantidad de los recursos materiales y a la fuente de este financiamiento, que es generalmente combinada entre transferencias municipales y tasas provenientes de servicios.

La representación y participación ciudadana en los gobiernos metropolitanos es, generalmente, a través de modelos de elección indirecta, donde las alcaldías y concejalías forman parte de la estructura metropolitana como representantes del municipio en el que han sido elegidas.

Las relaciones multinivel dan cuenta de cómo se sitúan las áreas metropolitanas en un entorno de gobernanza multinivel, en relación a la articulación entre actores públicos y privados (relaciones horizontales), o entre los diferentes niveles de gobierno (relaciones verticales).

¿Cómo incorporar la visión de género en la gobernanza metropolitana?

Una gobernanza sensible al género debe afrontar 4 retos:

  • Combatir las arraigadas desigualdades de género
  • Feminizar la toma de decisiones
  • Incorporar la pluralidad de miradas en los procesos de gobernanza
  • Apostar por una agenda política en la que se reconozca el papel de las mujeres en las instituciones y los procesos de gobernanza. (Situar en la agenda política la discriminación que sufren las mujeres en las instituciones y procesos de gobernanza)
¿Cómo lograr una gobernanza más equitativa?

Situar en el centro del accionar político los derechos ciudadanos, con sistemas de rendición de cuentas más sólidos y transparentes.

  • Organizar procesos de participación que identifiquen las necesidades diferenciadas de mujeres y hombres.
  • Sensibilizar a las instituciones y actores de la gobernanza en las cuestiones de género.
  • Promover una nueva distribución del tiempo de trabajo, para una conciliación equilibrada entre la vida familiar y laboral, que fomente formas de reparto y corresponsabilidad de los cuidados entre géneros, además de dar acceso a servicios de cuidados gratuitos.

Módulo 2

Hacia la ampliación del derecho a la ciudad en nuestras metrópolis

En el preámbulo de la Carta Mundial por el Derecho a la Ciudad (2004) articulada por Habitat International Coalition (HIC) se hace referencia al derecho a la ciudad a través de una serie de puntos que permiten analizarlo como un derecho complejo, interdependiente de los demás derechos humanos, a los cuáles se integra en una nueva manera de reforzar su reivindicación. De su lectura se puede extraer que se trata de un derecho humano y por lo tanto, universal. Su condición de derecho colectivo proviene de la ciudad entendida como un bien común y, otorga legitimidad a la acción y organización de los sectores más desfavorecidos y vulnerados que viven en ellas.

Puedes leer el módulo aquí

¿Por qué hablar de derecho a la ciudad en una escala metropolitana?
  • Para ampliar el enfoque sobre la mejora de la calidad de vida de las personas, tradicionalmente centrado en la vivienda y el barrio, hacia la realidad metropolitana de la ciudad que incluye el entorno periférico, periurbano o rural.
  • Como un mecanismo de protección de la población debido a la aceleración de los procesos de urbanización.
  • Para generar estructuras de gobernanza metropolitanas desde abajo, con visión crítica y comunitaria, que sean capaces de impulsar la mejora de la calidad de vida desde las propias necesidades y la ampliación de la ciudadanía real.
  • Para potenciar una nueva manera de promoción, respeto, defensa y realización de los derechos civiles, políticos, económicos, sociales, culturales y ambientales, garantizados en los instrumentos regionales e internacionales de derechos humanos.
  • Para asumir la interdependencia de la ciudad metropolitana y fomentar la solidaridad entre los diversos contextos y vivencias existentes dentro de una realidad metropolitana común.
Agenda 2030: La urgencia del desarrollo sostenible

Si observamos los 17 objetivos de Desarrollo Sostenible (ODS), podemos detenernos en el carácter transversal y la importancia de todos ellos para las políticas públicas metropolitanas. Sin embargo, el ODS 5 y el ODS 11 tienen una importancia estratégica en relación con el derecho a la ciudad y la construcción de la agenda metropolitana.

ODS 5. Lograr la igualdad entre los géneros y empoderar a todas las mujeres y las niñas[1]

ODS 11. Lograr que las ciudades y los asentamientos humanos sean inclusivos, seguros, resilientes y sostenibles[3]

Más información: https://hic-al.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Carta-Mundial-Derecho-a-la-Ciudad.pdf

La Nueva Agenda Urbana: la escala metropolitana y el derecho a la ciudad

La Nueva Agenda Urbana (NAU), se corresponde con la Agenda 2030, en lo que hace al enfoque metropolitano comprometido con el derecho a la ciudad. En su concepción, las áreas metropolitanas son clave para promover comunidades viables en las diferentes escalas. Las líneas de acción que señala el documento siguen una orientación similar al undécimo objetivo de desarrollo sostenible de la Agenda 2030: “Lograr que las ciudades y los asentamientos humanos sean inclusivos, seguros, resilientes y sostenibles” :

  • Potenciar y utilizar la planificación metropolitana para apoyar colectividades viables.
  • Trabajar desde enfoques integrales e inclusivos.
  • Apoyar las políticas metropolitanas de desarrollo sostenible.
  • Brindar respuestas eficaces al crecimiento.
  • Fomentar la movilidad sostenible
  • Promocionar la mejora de barrios marginales y revitalización urbana.
  • Desplegar medidas que aseguren el respeto de los derechos de las poblaciones existentes.
  • Introducir el enfoque multinivel para las políticas metropolitanas (gobiernos locales, metropolitanos, regionales, estatales).
Markus Spiske El espacio público desde una perspectiva feminista
Ricardo Gomez The right to housing in the metropolitan city
Kai Pilger The right to urban security from the gender perspective
Matthias BergThe right to metropolitan mobility

Módulo 3

Prácticas y políticas metropolitanas de desarrollo económico y sostenible. Una mirada crítica

Ante el reto de la lucha contra las desigualdades y el cambio climático, las estrategias de las ciudades inteligentes y de resiliencia urbana se plantean a escala metropolitana. Para ello es necesario reflexionar críticamente sobre sus implicaciones en la reconfiguración de la gobernanza socioambiental urbana desde una lógica multiescalar: municipal, metropolitana y/o regional.

Puedes leer el módulo aquí

Principales críticas a la concepción de Smart Cities
  • El determinismo tecnológico que puede sobrestimar el poder transformador de la tecnología, mientras que se ignoran las dimensiones no tecnológicas de las problemáticas urbanas.
  • La visión geográfica y descontextualizada que puede intensificar la fragmentación o la desigualdad reforzando relaciones de poder existentes.
  • La despolitización, disciplinamiento y delimitación de la noción de ciudadanía. Una retórica de neutralidad política de la tecnología que evita la politización de las cuestiones urbanas y las traslada a la esfera técnica y comercial.
  • La privatización de la gestión urbana y la dependencia tecnológica con el riesgo que la ciudad exprese cada vez más, los deseos, las imágenes y los valores del sector privado en lugar de los valores públicos.
  • Apropiación privada de datos urbanos que puede generar un proceso de extra activismo de datos por parte de las compañías que dominan el mercado.
  • Los impactos ambientales de las tecnologías de la ciudad inteligente por los metales y materiales utilizados, de difícil reciclaje. Además de la energía necesaria para mantener las infraestructuras de almacenamiento de datos.
  • Los nuevos riesgos en la gestión urbana. Por ejemplo, hackeos de las plataformas de datos urbanos, o la dependencia a personas expertas con altos conocimientos de las tecnologías, podría conducir a resultados poco democráticos y no igualitarios.
Reorientaciones hacia la ciudadanía

Cada vez más áreas urbanas están reorientando sus estrategias tecnológicas urbanas hacia modelos donde la ciudadanía está en el centro y la tecnología intenta contribuir a procesos de transformación urbana guiados «desde abajo». Estos procesos son facilitados por:

  • El desarrollo de nuevas arquitecturas e infraestructuras tecnológicas que permiten poner a la ciudadanía en el centro de la gobernanza urbana y
  • El surgimiento de nuevas formas de modelos de gobernanza urbana.

Mapa del Agua. Ciudad del Cabo

En el año 2018 se lanzó un sistema de mapeo digital que alentaba a la población a mantener las restricciones de consumo de agua durante una sequía severa. A través de un mapa en línea se reconocía y recompensaba a los hogares que cumplían con los objetivos de ahorro, con símbolos de colores, que se mostraban en los exteriores de las viviendas. Fue una campaña con una alta participación e impacto que contribuyó a las reducciones en el uso doméstico del agua en la ciudad.

Más información: City of Cape Town's Water Map

Barrio digital. La Paz

Barrio Digital es una plataforma web que permite realizar gestiones a la población, pero también obtener información de sus necesidades para coordinar respuestas con programas de mejora de barrios, participación y áreas de planificación e infraestructuras. La plataforma puede proporcionar un servicio tanto on-line como vía intranet (off line), adecuándose así a las diferentes realidades de la ciudad. Su principal medio de interacción es la mensajería corta que poseen la mayoría de los teléfonos móviles.

Más información: Barrio Digital

Sistema de indicadores de género. Buenos Aires

La construcción, difusión y mejora de sistemas de indicadores de género que se realiza desde diferentes áreas de planificación y estadística se la Ciudad de Buenos Aires, se enmarca en el Objetivo de Desarrollo Sostenible 5: “Igualdad de género” ya que permiten monitorear la Agenda 2030 a partir de la información distribuida por sexo. Promueven así la producción de información estadística con visión de género para la toma de decisiones. Los datos son actualizados regularmente a la vez que se incorporan nuevos indicadores.

Más información: Sistema de indicadores de género

Decidim Barcelona

Decidim Barcelona es una plataforma de participación digital que se originó en la exploración de herramientas de código abierto para la democracia directa en Barcelona, Madrid, Helsinki y Reikiavik a través del proyecto D-CENT (Tecnologías de Participación Ciudadana Descentralizadas) financiado por la Unión Europea (2013-2016). Su característica principal es que permite ser mejorado y reutilizado por cualquier persona o entidad y otras ciudades y movimientos sociales ya lo han incorporado. Actualmente, a través de la plataforma se realizan diversos procesos participativos como el Plan Clima o el Presupuesto Participativo que orienta el Programa de Actuación Municipal de la ciudad.

Más información: Decidim.barcelona | Innovación Democrática

Related resources

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The social and economic changes of the 20th and 21st century have reshaped the urban landscape. Now more than half of the human population is living in cities and over 40% of them are doing it in metropolitan areas, with the forecast that in the future this trend will only increase.

Even when the human development rates are much higher in urban areas than in rural ones, numerous challenges are emerging from this growth of population. These problems, mainly related to social, economic and ecologic inequalities, are very similar between metropolises, therefore a trend on how to deal with them.

All the different models of governance, in any case, would have to face issues related to the low level of competences that metropolises have, how to fund them and how it affects their autonomy, the political participation from citizens, and the multi level governance between administrations.

In the first publication of the Issue Papers from the Metropolis Observatory, Mariona Tomàs from the University of Barcelona, highlights the challenges that governments and policymakers will face in the urban landscape and recommends some possible solutions to confront them, focusing on the different levels of governance.
Metropolitan trends in the world · Issue Paper #1 · Metropolis Observatory

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The 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) has defined a path that the United Nations is using to schedule and monitor the actions to build a sustainable and secure future for everyone. Cooperation with and between metropolises is mandatory to try and accomplish the 169 targets of the SDG, because several of the objectives are deeply connected to how cities will develop in the next few years.

Governance between every level of the administration, future planning of the urban landscape, sustainable public and private transport and climate change resilience are the four key points defined in the New Urban Agenda. This is just an example of various agendas and accords that countries and cities alike are agreeing with to work together for a better future.

Cities must identify and prioritise those actions that can work better in their regions, especially the ones that are more related to the SDG that focus on cities. To prevent corruption and legitimise changes, governments must implicate local stakeholders and make a clear accountability so citizens can understand and work with them.

In the second publication of the Issue Papers, Agustí Fernández de Losada explains that cities must approach the SDG always according to their capabilities, with the idea that these are not just recommendations but global problems that are pressuring our lives and need to be solved in the upcoming decades, centred in the metropolitan landscape.
Metropolises addressing the global agendas · Issue Paper #2 · Metropolis Observatory

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The future of metropolises is based on their capacity to be resilient to resist the challenges the world will experience in the next decades. Climate change, migrations, electric mobility transition… Cities must be prepared for what has to come and search for solutions and opportunities that will let them overcome these problems.

Climate change is one of the main drivers that is accelerating transformations in metropolitan spaces. Migrations due to ecological disasters in vulnerable regions are attracting people to cities where there are more opportunities to live, but this also grows problems that already exist in urban areas, like pollution, access to housing or scarcity of water.

Claiming social cohesion in growing multicultural societies, health problems derived from contamination, mobility between regions or droughts and floods due to weather changes are not only responsibilities of metropolises, so they must determine, according to their interests and limitations, how they can address them and who they have to work with, if regional actors, boundary municipalities, or both.

Collaboration between cities with similar challenges, monitoring the possible problems and financing reliable arrangements are some of the key elements that metropolises have to take a look into to endure the next years, solutions that the network 100 Resilient Cities describe in the third publication from the Issue Paper series.
The Metropolitan scale of resilience · Issue paper #3

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Despite the advances made in gender equality in international, national and local fields, there are still a lot of objectives to accomplish. The sexual division of labour created a situation of discrimination where women are relegated to care tasks, and in metropolitan areas, to work mostly in the service sector and displaced to live in peripheral communities.

As women strengthen their voices to demand their needs and rights, cities are making advances in implementing gender perspective in their projects. Urban spaces are being rethought and rebuilt according to these demands, where reproductive labour is taken into consideration so women in vulnerable situations can safely travel, work and live.

Political participation from any gender is necessary to achieve equality in metropolises, so creating spaces and resources where women gather in a secure environment and develop a particular own agenda will empower them. Also, increasing women's representation could make an impact on the visibility of their requests towards society at a political level.

In the Issue Papers 4, Ana Falú acknowledges how in some cities advancements towards women’s rights were made and details practical recommendations to follow so the most urgent problems are addressed, like sexual harassment or the poor access to public services for families.
Egalitarian metropolitan spaces · Issue paper #4 · Metropolis Observatory
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Metropolis Indicators

Speakers
  • Mariona Tomás, Professor of Political Science and member of the Local Studies Research Group (GREL) at the University of Barcelona
  • Mariela Iglesias Costa, Researcher and Professor at the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya
  • Blanca Valdivia, Urban sociologist and member of Col·lectiu Punt 6
  • Hug March, PhD in Environmental Studies and Associate professor at Universitat Oberta de Catalunya
  • Mariona Tomàs, profesora de ciencias políticas y miembro del grup de recerca d’estudis locals, Universitat de Barcelona
  • Mariela Iglesias Costa, investigadora y profesora de la Universitat Oberta de Catalunya
  • Blanca Valdivia, socióloga urbana y miembro de Col·lectiu Punt 6
  • Hug March, Doctor en ciencias ambientales y profesor asociado a la Universitat Oberta de Catalunya
Location
Online
Session date
Topic
Governance and citizen engagement
SDGs
Citymakers Lead the Way: Local Actions, Global Outcomes

Belo Horizonte

Knowledge sharing for greener and more livable cities

Trees and urban forests in cities and metropolitan areas are proven mechanisms to improve the quality of life of their inhabitants. However, despite their potential for ecosystem service delivery and city resilience, urban forests are often underestimated and underused as nature-based solutions. This highlights the need for active planning, management and integration of urban forests in the climate change agenda to enhance society's resilience and aid cities in adapting better.


With this in mind, the cities of Mexico, Belo Horizonte, and Bogota were selected to participate in the first learning exchange mechanism organized by the CLEARING HOUSE project. This has been an opportunity to promote and enhance capacity development and peer-to-peer exchange of knowledge and practices on Urban Forest and Natural Bases Solutions (UF-NBS).


On the one hand, it has been a great opportunity for Mexico City and Belo Horizonte to form a tandem to exchange knowledge and projects on two current challenges for their administrations: forestation strategies for urban centers and green infrastructures. 


In considering these issues, urban experts also gained insight into ongoing UF-NBS initiatives in Belo Horizonte, such as the "Mini Forests" program. Led by management in partnership with community groups and technical agencies, the program creates small pockets of biodiversity in areas lacking vegetation, providing cooler environments and access to nature.


In Mexico City, through projects such as "Bosque San Juan de Aragón", different initiatives for the recovery and creation of wetlands developed by the city in the last four years are being implemented. This example showed us the need to include in afforestation strategies not only trees, but also native plants, shrubs and other local species. This is a strategy to reintroduce native plant species in urban afforestation initiatives that are sometimes forgotten or undervalued.

Bosque de San Juan de Aragón

San Juan de Aragón forest, Mexico City


Another activity from the learning exchange mechanism has been the Task Force, in which the city of Bogota was selected. The main objective of this was to have the opportunity that a local administration could receive technical assistance and recommendations on the topic of its choosing. In this case, provided by the CLEARING HOUSE experts. The technical assistance in Bogota has focused on the review of Bogota´s Urban Forestry Policy, including recommendations, ideas, and examples to help the metropolis with its implementation in the territory, which should also engage the participation of its neighbors and citizens.


Throughout this knowledge exchange experience, it was identified common points of view between Mexico City and Belo Horizonte on how this region work and applied the UF-NBS projects and strategies but also allowed both cities to learn from each other on different ways to approach one problem for having a solution. Also, the city of Bogota has had the opportunity to know international case studies that will help the city in its implementation strategy of its Urban Forestry Policy as well as first-hand support from experts on this issue.


Now, as a final step of this first call, in 2023 Metropolis, the CLEARING HOUSE consortium and representatives of each of the three selected cities selected will have the opportunity to learn more in-depth about each project presented through field visits. This is the final phase of this process and will be used to know in-situ the projects as well as to discuss and solve doubts that each city could have.

 

What's next?


The second call for the Knowledge Exchange Mechanism has been launched in January 2023 and this time will allow cities from Europe & East Asia to participate in another City Tandem and receive the guidance of the CLEARING HOUSE for another Task Force. All this with the strong belief that the exchange of knowledge is an effective tool to improve urban planning and strengthened local policy showing successful cases as well as other contexts where UF-NBS are being applied.

Author

Israel
Barroso

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