Metropolis - Guangzhou Award

Moving forward in partnership and modernising global urban governance

26 October 2021

By: Zhan Decun, Guangzhou People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, Secretary-General, Asia Pacific, World Association of the Major Metropolises

The COVID-19 resurgence and emergence of new variants have hindered our economic recovery. Pandemic response and economic recovery are the most pressing tasks for every global city. The world is a single interconnected community sharing in mankind’s future. In the face of these and other urgent challenges, no individual region nor solitary city can overcome them on its own. We must work in solidarity to find a global solution.

According to the United Nations, 55 percent of the world’s population live in urban areas. It is estimated that by 2050, 68 percent of the world’s population will be living in metropolitan areas. Undoubtedly, cities have become a decisive force in achieving the UN SDGs. The COVID-19 crisis has triggered great obstacles for the governance and uninterrupted development of cities. Issues impeding the sustainable development of cities, such as big city disease, climate change, and the digital gap, have been further exacerbated.

The sudden pandemic outbreak looms as a cautionary tale of how global cities should jointly improve urban governance through closer cooperation and science-based planning to develop a more effective emergency response capacity. In the post-pandemic era, we will need to enhance mutual learning and resource-sharing between cities more than ever before.

Collaboration

Metropolis - Guangzhou AwardWe should further encourage friendly engagement among cities worldwide, promote improvement in urban governance, and work side-by-side to address our mutual challenges.

We will all benefit by watching out for each other and overcoming our tribulations together to fully implement the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda by using practical actions. In this manner, we shall put the idea of a worldwide community with a shared future for mankind into practice.

Guangzhou is a national central city, international centre for commerce and trade, international transportation hub, and core city of the Greater Bay Area. The population under the administration of Guangzhou has exceeded 22 million.

Metropolis - Guangzhou AwardGuangzhou voluntarily incorporated the UN SDGs into its 2035 National Land and Space General Plan. This plan advanced the vision to build a beautiful and liveable City of Flowers and a dynamic, global city. Guangzhou is the first Chinese city to participate in the UN SDGs Voluntary Local Review. It also joined the FAO’s Green Cities Initiative and worked with the World Bank to carry out the Sustainable Development Urban Cooling Pilot Project in China. Guangzhou endeavours to provide useful precedents, paradigms and templates in the sustainable development and climate governance of international cities.

Guangzhou joined Metropolis, the World Association of Major Metropolises, in 1993. Ever since then, Guangzhou has valued and supported the role of Metropolis as an important platform for multilateral engagement and cooperation between countless cities. Guangzhou has endeavoured to promote the innovative development of cities, and it has worked with Metropolis and UCLG to launch the Guangzhou International Award for Urban Innovation. The Guangzhou Award has been presented four times and attracted the submission of more than 1,000 projects in urban innovation. These projects have been included in the UN Habitat’s Urban Best Practices Database.

Guangzhou Award

The Guangzhou Award has also become an important platform for driving the achievement of the UN SDGs and New Urban Agenda at a local level. It has stimulated great contributions to the sustainable development of global cities. After being elected as Metropolis president in 2021, Guangzhou made further efforts to unite leaders, administrators, and executors of global cities and actively shared the voices from major metropolises to the rest of the world. These voices were instrumental in promoting enhanced international cooperation in response to COVID-19 and offering strong support for building cities with a fairer social environment, more prosperous economy, and more resilient administrative system.

The 13th Metropolis World Congress will be held in Guangzhou between 8 and 13 November 2021. It will feature both online and offline events. During this time, Guangzhou will be the host city for the 2021 Global Mayors’ Forum and the Fifth Guangzhou International Award for Urban Innovation in partnership with the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries and the UCLG.

Cities in transition

Using Moving Forward in Partnership and Modernising Global Urban Governance as the theme, the event will be centred around the highly relevant topic of Cities in Transition – Rethink Our Shared Future. In-depth discussions will take place with the aim of creating solutions for the future development and transition of cities. Administrators from world-renowned cities, directors from key international organisations, representatives from leading multinational corporations, and experts in urban innovation will focus on public health, new infrastructure, poverty reduction/alleviation, climate change, making cities more resilient, and urban renewal. Their common goal will be to share their experiences in urban planning and construction, offer their wisdom regarding the innovation of urban governance, and express their vision of future urban development.

We sincerely look forward to the participation of our friends from around the world so that we can connect and work together to build a better world using the sustainable development approach.