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Whether
at the regional, national or international level, governments, the private sector and
civil society recognize they must work together to find lasting and effective solutions to
the problems of globalization. This partnership between the various sectors of society is
particularly pressing in city management. Influenced by the effects of globalization,
cities are facing new challenges, and to meet them, they must rethink the way they manage
the various aspects of urban life. How can cities be managed to better meet the needs of
all citizens? How can municipalities, the private sector and civil society work together
to ensure the sustainable and equitable development of urban areas?
A
common focus of many innovative and effective ideas and approaches being worked out today
is a central concern with the actual process of urban planning and management.
Re-Thinking
the Cities. Montreal 2002
aims to share experiences of cities and towns from countries of North America, Latin
America and Europe - despite their vast differences in physical, economic, social and
political situations - increasingly converge on this same viewpoint, this same framework
for action. This evolving framework of Urban Planning and Management can be characterized
as comprising, in general, four closely inter-related elements or aspects:
-
Identification
and Prioritisation of Urban Issues and Involvement of Stakeholders
-
Formulating Urban
Management Strategies;
-
Formulating
and Implementing Action Plans; and
-
Institutionalising
Environmental Planning and Management.
Based
on information from a wide variety of cities around the world Re-Thinking the Cities
will give the opportunity through a plenary session to confront in an open discussion
different views and realities.
That
above plenary session will be fed by a previous poster-audiovisual session that will
illustrate –by describing cases studies- ways that cities have found to be effective in
moving towards sustainable development and thus comprise a useful framework for a global
approach to implementing the urban agenda.
At
the end, Re-thinking the cities will attempt to summarise a number of
"international guidelines" that can be suggested, each of which reflects the
knowledge and insights - the "lessons learned to share" - gained through
different city experiences.
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