Integrating and Localising Global Sustainability Agenda through Voluntary Local Reviews in Cities

Sustainable, inclusive, smart and resilient cities are the backbone of achieving the global sustainability agenda. Going beyond the silo approach and tackling the New Urban Agenda, the Agenda 2030 and its SDGs, the Paris Agreement, and the Aichi targets in a holistic manner maximizes the synergy and reduces trade-offs between different policies and programs.

To do so, cities depend on integrative frameworks that adapt global agendas into concrete local action. monitoring, data collection and analysis. Robust follow up and review mechanism are pre-requisites in the hands of cities and practitioners to undertake meaningful reviews of policies and urban systems for informed decision making. Lastly, inclusive governance models to leverage local culture, innovation capacity and identifying the right technological tools for a specific local context are key drivers to mainstream sustainability throughout cities.

Participants to this training will be equipped with VLR and SDG localization frameworks and a set of practical proven methodologies and tools for monitoring, follow up and review as well as inclusive governance that are driven by culture and innovation. Among these, integrated planning and inclusive stakeholder engagement mechanisms allow for dialogue among communities and enable development of a common sustainability vision built on the local culture.

The training will be comprised of four components; (1) introduction to the VLRs and to integrated planning, (2) exploration of challenges and solutions in implementing the VLRs and in planning of urban development, through hands-on learning of innovative approaches and technologies, (3) group work to apply these concepts to local contexts, and (4) open discussion on how cities can bring coherence and comprehensiveness to their approaches in addressing multiple global sustainability agenda.