World Cities Day: Celebrating the power of cities

Cities: A powerhouse for innovation

Throughout history, cities have held a central role in innovation. First, local governments often are more agile than the national or regional ones in identifying and responding to problems. Then, they are closer to their constituencies, making them well-positioned for participative action. Finally, when facing unprecedented challenges, cities benefit from a wide action range to carry out new solutions, and mobilize communities for a faster response. 

On 31 October, the United Nations celebrated World Cities Day, bringing together urban partners to share their approaches on local action, creating more connected, inclusive and sustainable cities. 

Emerging challenges 

In the Europe and Central Asia region, urban spaces have experienced multiple transitions and shocks. UNDP’s strategic innovation work in cities shows that cities are at a precipice  – under-resourced, over-extended, and with unreformed development models – allowing any dent or crack to destabilise the system anew. The outdated economic model no longer works – cities and towns, especially smaller towns, frequently house decrepit industries and are home to young people who want to leave. Yet, while we can easily pinpoint the problems in the region’s recent history and present, the way out is less clear. But there is hope. To live up to people’s expectations for a thriving future, local governments need to move beyond traditional and obsolete economic models, and embrace learning and flexibility to change practices that keep them relevant and open to new opportunities. This is a shift in mindset, collaboration, and capability – and reinventing themselves will accelerate change within the systems.

In this context, urban stakeholders are asking themselves: What do we need to do now to shift systems?

Can we shift urban systems?

Since August, through our Urban Talks Series, we have been exploring these questions and featuring stories of changemakers who have powered innovation to address new and old challenges alike. From these stories, several themes have emerged: 

Interconnectedness. Urban systems are interconnected: for example, an investment in public infrastructure will increase the value of property around it and drive other investments. To make them more manageable, urban challenges have been sliced into single issues. But to be effective and make urban systems more resilient, there is a need to work on understanding and building connections between different parts of the system. Urbanist Dr. Jayne Engle, current Co-Director of Participatory Canada, challenged us to explore the interconnectedness between the intangible (wisdom and values), and the tangible – physical, digital, environmental and institutional infrastructures (see Urban Talk #3). Her work recognizes that the future needs to be built together with those to whom it belongs, incorporating the voices of children and young people, and placing at the heart of urban development a balanced relationship with nature. Movements like Japan’s Future Design show how to factor in future generations into the design of interventions now, as do Fridays for Future, a youth-led and organised climate activist movement. In Batumi, Georgia, the city government, in its effort to diversify its economic model and rebrand itself into a tech-city, has ended up identifying and connecting to stakeholders that are driving the startup ecosystem (see Urban Talk #4).

Distributed Power. Radical collaboration between different actors – what Mayor of Ungheni in Moldova, Alexandru Ambros, calls a “web of bridges”, generates active feedback loops and enables cities to respond faster when shocks happen. Building the “web of bridges” is reliant on  trust, open communication and shared missions. The Istanbul Planning Agency Vision 2050 team, is another good example of that (see Urban Talk #1). They conducted consultations with over 20,000 people to determine the city’s vision and mission. The city landed on a vision for the future of the city as vibrant, free and diverse, and continued to ‘translate’ this mission into a multitude of actions – from how the municipality works to the projects planned across the city. Similarly, NetZero Cities are supporting 100 cities in Europe to move to carbon neutrality by 2030, together with those to whom the city belongs – communities, companies, city governments (see Urban Talk #7). In the digital space, Barcelona and about 50 cities, with UN Habitat’s support, are developing digital transformation strategies that are people-centred, and that support sustainable urbanization (see Urban Talk #6).

Imagination. In our last Urban Talk, Charles Landry called for boldness and unleashing creativity in cities. Broadening imagination, adopting a learning mindset and encouraging creative bureaucracy are foundational in not only being resilient to shocks, but using them as an opportunity to shift systems. The Creative Bureaucracy movement in the making brings together bureaucrats from around the world who are using their imagination and capabilities to reimagine the role of governments as enablers of change. In this regard at one end of Europe, SPIN Unit is looking into what it would take for the city of Tallinn in Estonia to create a fully self-sufficient food system – including moving to a regional scale, changing diets and re-shaping behaviours. How to get there is a process of discovery that requires “disciplined pluralism,” laced with creativity and hyperlocal knowledge (see Urban Talk #5). On the other end of Europe, UNDP North Macedonia built a portfolio on circularity, by which it unlocked new partnerships, reframed questions and opened up new spaces for collaboration to rethink waste management (see Urban Talk #5).

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Cities are starting to reimagine themselves – exploring new economic models that are better balanced with nature, new forms of participation, and understanding more deeply how flows of people (e.g. refugees, internally displaced people, tourists, gig workers, etc.) are reshaping urban fabrics.

Curious to explore and learn how urban spaces are adapting in these ever changing conditions? See all the recordings and all the key insights from our Urban Talks series: innovation.eurasia.undp.org/urban-talks-series-summary-and-takeaways/.   

UNDP’s work on the application of systems thinking to urban transformation is supported by the European Commission and the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Slovakia. To learn more about our urban transformation work, see here, including our Mayors for Economic Growth Initiative in Eastern Partnership countries and the City Experiment Fund.

Illustration: Anina Takeff for Fine Acts