African Cities Research Consortium’s Post

🌍𝗢𝗛𝗖𝗛𝗥 𝗮𝘁 𝗪𝗨𝗙𝟭𝟮: 𝗟𝗼𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘇𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗛𝘂𝗺𝗮𝗻 𝗥𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗦𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗖𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗲𝘀 I am pleased to share that the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights Section will be co-organizing an event at the Twelfth Session of the World Urban Forum, taking place in tomorrow Cairo. Our session will focus on the critical theme of localizing human rights. 🗓️ Event Date: 5 November 2024 🏛️ Location: WUF12, Cairo, Egypt 🖇️ Register with the QR Code The WUF12 theme, "It All Starts at Home: Local Actions for Sustainable Cities and Communities," resonates strongly with our commitment to ensuring that human rights are embedded at the local level. As urban areas grow and global challenges—such as housing crises, climate change, and inequality—intensify, it is more important than ever to align local actions with human rights principles. Through this event, we will explore how localizing human rights can strengthen governance, foster citizen engagement, and drive sustainable development, ensuring that urbanization efforts leave no one behind. This discussion will be part of WUF12's broader focus on localizing the Sustainable Development Goals to address pressing global issues through local solutions. Join us at WUF12 as we highlight the role of human rights in creating sustainable, inclusive, and resilient cities. #WUF12 #HumanRights #SustainableCities #ESCR #UnitedNations #OHCHR

Ready to see how local innovation can address global urban issues? WUF12's theme, "It All Starts at Home: Local Actions for Sustainable Cities and Communities," highlights local solutions to the most pressing urban issues. Register now and join us in Cairo for WUF12: wuf.unhabitat.org #WUF12 #WUF12xEgypt #UrbanForum #UrbanDevelopment #SustainableCities #SmartCities #InclusiveCities #UrbanEducation #DigitalCities #Cairo #Egypt

It all starts locally. That was the key slogan of the World Urban Forum 12 Egypt. #WUF12 will go down in history as a record-breaking event with an attendance of over 24,000 participants from 182 countries. I have to say though that bigger is not aways better. Because bigger also means bigger venues, longer queues, higher security, larger advertising, massive logistic operations and more speakers … and because of that perhaps more disconnected from what happens locally... In Cairo - 👉 We talked about sustainable smart transport solutions, but we collectively travelled in cars and taxis to a conference venue that was not connected by public transport… 👉 We navigated giant halls that at times resembled a fancy real estate expo, because booth fees have become unaffordable or unjustifiable for many small or large organisations 👉 We listened to amazing speakers, but often without time for discussion 👉 We chanted #ItAllStartsLocally, but the venue was so far removed from the city that we ate packaged food, largely missed out on the flavours of Egyptian cuisine and hardly got a glimpse of local initiatives and ideas that make a city of 20 million inhabitants work… I walked away from the event with the usual excitement about meeting old friends, making some new ones and together cook up new project ideas, but this time also a sense of disappointment. WUF remains unparalleled as an occasion for politicians to decide on agendas, for agencies to commit and invest into those agendas, for urban practitioners and academics to connect with partners and clients, create alliances, secure new project opportunities and for students to learn...  But I hope that #WUF13 in Baku - like in many of the previous WUF editions - we will also get the opportunity to really experience and learn from what happens locally. #ItAllStartsLocally #ItAllStartsAtHome UN-Habitat (United Nations Human Settlements Programme)

This past week in #Cairo, I had the remarkable opportunity to attend the World Urban Forum 12 Egypt (#WUF12) organized by UN-Habitat (United Nations Human Settlements Programme) UN-Habitat Egypt alongside incredible people from around the world. The theme, “It All Starts at Home,” framed an ambitious vision: addressing global crises through local, community-rooted actions. Yet, this notion sparked more questions than answers about the idea of “home” as a site for global transformation. Navigating the forum felt almost like a live academic inquiry, moving through panel discussions, presentations, and workshops that shared insights into the profound, often unseen work that individuals, organizations, the private sector, United Nations agencies, cities, and governments do in their own “homes.” Each session shed light on both the potential and the inherent challenges of using local actions to confront worldwide urbanization issues. I felt fortunate to be part of such an engaged and intellectually stimulating environment. #WUF12 brought forward the nuanced intersections of localized action within a global vision, particularly highlighting the tensions of sustainable urbanization—between overarching ambitions and the granular, human aspects of policy application. I left the forum with new questions and a renewed awareness of the intellectual and ethical issues that sustainable urbanism raises: Can local action truly address global crises without being diluted by the pressures of scale and standardization? How can we preserve the authenticity of place in an era of increasingly globalized urban practices? While WUF12 didn’t answer these questions outright, it provided an invaluable space to grapple with them, offering a collaborative setting where ideas intersected with lived experiences. The four days were intense—a whirlwind of sessions, lectures, networking events, and debates centered on local actions, global visions, and the layered complexities in between. I reconnected with old friends and met inspiring individuals whose work left a lasting impression. Special thanks to Jihad Farah, Nicholas You, Mohamed Salheen, Hassan Elmouelhi, Maram Tawil, Hellen Aziz, Ashraf Abbas, and Mia Barnard for engaging conversations that went beyond the forum. #unhabitat #unhabitategypt #wuf12 #ItAllStartsAtHome, #ItAllStartsLocally Link to Entire post and review on my website: https://lnkd.in/daSNnGCy

World Urban Forum 12th session in Cairo Egypt

🎟️ Event recap from WUF12 🌏 On November 6, the World Resources Institute México Urban Development team, together with the Wuppertal Institute, presented at the World Urban Forum (WUF) in Cairo during the session "EcoZones: Co-designing Inclusive Climate Action at the Local Level." The session focused on empowering local communities to address climate vulnerability using innovative digital tools. 🌱✨ The WRI México team shared insights on how the EcoZones Toolkit is being applied in vulnerable neighborhoods across two Mexican cities to co-create cost-effective, inclusive, and scalable urban solutions. 📱 The session highlighted how these tools are being utilized to help communities develop low-carbon, resilient cities. Two pilot projects in Mexican cities demonstrated the effectiveness and potential of these solutions. #EcoZones #WUF12 #WorldUrbanForum #SustainableCities #MexicoatWUF

How can we make our cities and urban communities better? For localised actions to be sucessful, they truly need to respond to and address the rights and needs of diverse groups, including persons with disabilities, and be anchored in a participatory appraoch. Ensuring effective participation + putting the #CRPD into practice in the implemtnation of #SDGs #NUA #Sendai #ParisAgreement we can ensure that practices and policies not are based on assumptions or stereotypes, but on the experiences and expertise of our communities. World Blind Union International Disability Alliance UN-Habitat (United Nations Human Settlements Programme) United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG)

Join us in the one UN pavilion tomorrow before the schedules get complicated and let’s discuss how a balanced system of cities cas lead green transition and inclusive growth!

Just landed in Cairo!! 🇺🇳💪🏼 Today’s United Nations panel is about: “Easing Local Business for Sustainable Urban Development”. But what does this mean? Well, it’s about removing barriers for local businesses so they can actively contribute to sustainable, resilient cities. This means: ✓ practical policies ✓ improved financing access ✓ support for green innovation to drive real impact. But how can we make this vision a reality? We’ll find out on today’s panel 😉 #WUF12

Is Outward Bound relevant? Yes! Insights from OBI: