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A Sustainable World Starts with Sustainable Cities
The Fourth Meeting of the OECD Roundtable of Mayors and Ministers will be hosted by the City of Chicago on 8 March 2012.
The OECD Secretary-General, Angel Gurría, the Mayor of Chicago, Rahm Emanuel, the Mayor of New York and the Chairman of the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group, Michael Bloomberg, and Secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Shaun Donovan, will jointly preside over the meeting.
Securing a sustainable future is at the forefront of global agendas. Cities are both part of the problem and the solution to present urban sustainability and resiliency challenges, and are therefore essential actors to securing a more equitable and sustainable development path.
By transforming urban policies and catalysing innovative urban investment, cities can be leaders in global action on climate change as well as pioneers of greener and more resilient growth. They can help define and implement a way forward that delivers economic, environmental and social gains. Innovative urban investments, including national, local, and private investment funds (insurance companies, pension funds, etc.) and public-public and public-private partnerships are critical to meeting these objectives.
The 2012 Roundtable will focus on financing and investing in urban sustainability, job creation, and resilient growth as a catalyst for economic recovery.
Participants will examine innovative investment options and finance models to meet these objectives as well as look at the role of key sectors and partnerships that drive change.
The Roundtable provides a forum to develop inter-governmental approaches for stronger, more effective urban policy.
It attracts a wide variety of participants, including National Ministers, business leaders, mayors, regional leaders and civil society groups.
The Roundtable was established in 2007 and it builds upon a long tradition of policy dialogue and publications on urban issues at the OECD.
Since 1979, OECD member countries have shared their experiences and identified best practices in the development of urban areas across such issues as economic competitiveness, urban governance, local finance, infrastructure, climate change, social cohesion, immigrant integration and distressed areas.
www.oecd.org/gov/cities
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Previous meetings
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"Cities and Green Growth" Roundtable, Paris, 2010
The Paris Roundtable confirmed the important role cities can play in fostering green growth, as well as the need for national policies to enable, encourage and evaluate the progress of local and regional initiatives. The local and national leaders at the Roundtable helped to strengthen the exchange between national and city-level governments, which will be of primary importance in solidifying economic recovery and tackling global concerns such as climate change.
"Competitive Cities and Climate Change" Roundtable, Milan, 2008
The Milan Roundtable assessed the key institutional challenges to multi-level governance on climate change, and how local and national governments and other stakeholders could work together most effectively to implement climate change policy actions at the city level.
www.oecd.org/gov/urbandevelopment/milanconference
"Rethinking the Urban Policy Agenda" Roundtable, Madrid, 2007
The Madrid Roundtable helped to set the basis of a new international policy dialogue among city mayors and national government representatives, who examined the future of urban policy in the context of globalisation and the growing challenges for cities.
www.oecd.org/gov/urbandevelopment/madridconference
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