UfM Regional Platform on Sustainable Urban Development

Context

Sustainable urbanization is key to addressing climate change, while it is also a potential driver for sustainable development. The UfM follows a cooperative approach in implementing the UfM Urban Agenda, which provides a holistic, integrated, place-based and long-term approach to sustainable urban development, in order to achieve well-managed, economically prosperous, gender and socially inclusive, just, safe, healthy, accessible and resilient, as well as resource-efficient and low-carbon environmentally sustainable cities.

The UfM Strategic Urban Development Action Plan 2040 including its Housing Action Plan has been elaborated and deployed as a key tool to implement the UfM Urban Agenda.

In the Mediterranean region, human-induced pressures are on the rise and are mostly felt in coastal areas. Its basin is one of the most prominent hotspots of climate and environmental change in the world. This reality has further highlighted the need for sustainable urbanisation in the region as a driver for sustainable development.

The Platform's objective

In this field, the aim of the UfM in general, and of the UfM Regional Platform on Sustainable Urban Development and its Working Groups[i] in particular, is to implement the UfM Ministerial mandate through a multi-stakeholder framework for dialogue and technical cooperation, thus contributing to the advancement of the global agenda, including the achievement of the relevant UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG 11 “Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable” and related SDGs 3, 13, 15, 16, 17).

[i] UfM Working Group on Affordable and Sustainable Housing, UfM Working Group on Urban Transformation, and the UfM Permanent Working Group on Evaluation, Monitoring and Reporting Systems on Sustainable Urban Development

The Platform's key priorities

Through the implementation of the UfM Strategic Urban Development Action Plan 2040, the UfM Regional Platform on Sustainable Urban Development and its Working Groups aim to:

- Foster and reinforce multi-level and multi-stakeholder partnerships;
- Exchange knowledge, experience, best practice and innovative approaches between Member States, local authorities, and other relevant stakeholders;
- Identify gaps in policy, implementation and financing;
- Identify new projects that could be replicated in the region;
- Create action plans on specific thematic priorities for working groups;
- Prepare a UfM report on contribution to the implementation of the New Urban Agenda.

In addition, the UfM Regional Platform on Sustainable Urban Development is also tasked to prepare, discuss, and provisionally approve the draft Ministerial Declaration and other deliverables, before conveying them to UfM Senior Officials (regular SOM) for adoption, prior to the next UfM Ministerial Conferenc

Back-to-back with the UfM Regional Platform on Sustainable Urban Development and its Working Groups, the UfM Secretariat organises the UfM-IFIs Urban Project Committee, which is aimed at exchanging views with the IFIs and key partners of the UfM region on the funding of the labelled and potential projects for future labelling in the field of urban development, particularly by exploring innovative coordinated financing approaches and mechanisms, as well as cooperative multi-donor strategies and partnerships at regional level.

Policy framework

The First UfM Ministerial Conference on Sustainable Urban Development(Strasbourg, November 2011), established cooperation on sustainable urban development as a means of developing a genuine urban dimension within the UfM, taking into account the interplay between urban and territorial development, climate change and the environment in the Euro-Mediterranean region.

The Second UfM Ministerial Conference on Sustainable Urban Development(Cairo, May 2017), established the UfM Urban Agenda, providing a strategic, long-term, and shared vision, and aiming to support the creation of more resilient and inclusive cities in the Mediterranean region, with a focus on reducing inequalities and achieving the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.

UfM Ministers in Cairo also mandated the UfM Secretariat to create and coordinate the UfM Regional Platform on Sustainable Urban Development and its Working Groupsfocusing on thematic priorities and bringing together UfM government representatives, key regional and international partner organisations and international financial institutions, as well as the key experts and stakeholders from both the public and private sectors.

The Third UfM Ministerial Conference on Sustainable Urban Development(Zagreb, May 2023) mandated the UfM Regional Platform on Sustainable Urban Development to focus on the effective implementation and monitoring of the UfM Urban Agenda, through the UfM Strategic Urban Development Action Plan 2040.

The UfM Strategic Urban Development Action Plan 2040 including its Housing Action Plan has been elaborated and deployed as a key tool to implement the UfM Urban Agenda, within human-centric and holistic approaches for cities of all sizes thus offering a strong operational framework for activating the necessary urban transitions in the region.

Global and Regional Policy Frameworks

- Several key global and regional reference policy frameworks were taken into account when drafting the Action Plans. These include, among others, the 2030 Agenda, the New Urban Agenda, the Urban Agenda for the EU, the New Leipzig Charter, the European Green Deal, the New European Bauhaus and also the Agenda 2063, in view of lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The UfM Regional Platform on Sustainable Urban Development is mandated to focus on the effective implementation and monitoring of the UfM Urban Agenda, through the UfM Strategic Urban Development Action Plan 2040. This will include setting up indicators for monitoring and reporting on the progress achieved in consultation with all relevant parties.