Under the slogan “It All Starts at Home: Local Action for Sustainable Cities and Communities,” the World Urban Forum was inaugurated in Cairo on Monday. President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi was at the inauguration with a message of a commitment to further urban development for Egypt with an eye on environmental concerns and priorities.

Al-Sisi called for a global effort to address the challenges facing cities and settlements worldwide. This edition of the forum comes at a crucial time as the world faces various international crises that are having “devastating repercussions on cities, communities, and all aspects of life,” the president said.

He stressed the need for peace as a pre-requisite for development. “It is impossible to take any serious steps to address urban challenges in societies suffering from wars, fighting, displacement, famine, and disease,” Al-Sisi said.

In his inaugural statement at the forum, Al-Sisi spoke of the country’s plans for urban development and construction over the past few years, making reference to several initiatives designed to improve the quality of life for residents of urban and rural areas across the country.

He also spoke of ambitious urban schemes including the New Administrative Capital and New Ain Sokhna City, along with 22 other cities being built simultaneously in various other governorates across the country.

He also announced the launch of the National Strategy for Smart Cities and the National Strategy for Green Urbanisation, “both aiming to strengthen existing national efforts in urban development based on international sustainability and partnership standards,” Al-Sisi said.

The president added that the World Urban Forum should offer opportunities for significant steps towards implementing the country’s New Urban Agenda, strengthening international partnerships, and finding innovative solutions to address urban development challenges and achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

“This requires active participation from all concerned parties — local communities, international organisations, the private sector, civil society, and universities — to forge partnerships and formulate policies and strategies that reflect the needs and aspirations of people for a decent life and a better future,” he stated.

Egypt’s plans for future urbanism were also the subject of statements by Prime Minister Mustafa Madbouli and the ministers of housing and construction and local development who reviewed the path of the country’s urban development during the past ten years and its future plans for the next decade at the forum.

The World Urban Forum is the premier global conference on sustainable urbanisation. It aims to raise awareness among various stakeholders and constituencies, including the general public, and improve collective knowledge on sustainable urban development through open and inclusive debate.

The 12th session of the forum is taking place in Cairo from 4 to 8 November. It is convening over 30,000 participants from over 180 countries and both at the governmental and the non-governmental levels.

Present at the forum are several heads of state and prominent international figures including UN Secretary-General António Guterres, Jan van Zanen, mayor of The Hague, and Anacláudia Rossbach, UN Habitat’s under-secretary-general and executive director.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Sudan’s Transitional Sovereignty Council Chairman Abdel-Fattah Al-Burhan, and Yemen’s Presidential Leadership Council Chairman Rashad Al-Alimi also took part in the inauguration ceremony.

According to UN Habitat, the key organiser of the event, this year’s forum comes as the world grapples with unprecedented urban challenges, including rapid urbanisation, housing shortages, and the impacts of climate change with the objective of pursuing localised solutions.

The forum provides a platform for sharing innovative strategies and successful community initiatives that foster sustainable urban development, and encourage collaboration among local governments, civil society, and urban practitioners to highlight actionable solutions and empower communities in shaping their urban futures, the key organiser said.

During the first day of the forum, concerned ministers from African countries convened to discuss cooperation at the African level in addressing pressing urban concerns, especially in the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and in countries with fast-growing populations and slow-growing economies.

The agenda of the forum covers a wide number of issues including urban resilience at a time of environmental change, the role of civil society and the role of women in promoting and adopting green urbanisation, and the role of governments and non-governmental bodies in addressing the financial gap for green and sustainable urban development.

Good housing as a base for sustainable cities and the need to incorporate youth in planning the cities of the future are also on the agenda of the forum. The consequential issue of migration, including internal rural-to-urban migration, is on the forum’s agenda, as is the impact of this on economic growth in some cities rather than others.

On Tuesday this week, UN Habitat was scheduled to launch its 2024 World Cities Report under the title of “Cities and Climate Change”. Also scheduled to be launched on Tuesday was its report on digital urban governance.

* A version of this article appears in print in the 7 November, 2024 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly.