The World Urban Campaign is a platform for public, private and civil society actors to elevate policies and share practical tools for sustainable urbanization. The success of the Campaign will be measured by more sustainable urban policies at the national level and increased investment and capital flows in support of those policies. For this reason it focuses on providing governments and partner networks with an advocacy instrument to articulate a shared vision for a better urban future and to advance the urban agenda within their respective constituencies.

This applies as much to organizations of the urban poor as it does to associations of local authorities, business forums, youth associations, media outlets, professional associations, women’s groups, Parliamentarians, ministerial conferences, and inter-governmental bodies. The Campaign in this way seeks to position sustainable urbanization as a priority issue of the international community and as a national policy priority for individual member States.

Why establish a World Urban Campaign?

The second and third decades of the 21st Century are an unprecedented moment in human history. The population of the world during this period will move from 50% to 70% urban. The movement is irreversible. Lacking requisite resources and policy priorities, most city governments will be ill-equipped to meet the needs of the urban future. An estimated two billion people will reside in sub-standard housing and informal settlements. Poorly planned settlement will be the dominant urban form in cities in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Most people living in urban areas will lack adequate shelter and basic services. Few will be recognized as urban citizens and many will end up working in the informal economy. Fewer still will realize their productive potential.

The urban challenge of the 21st Century is not a well known narrative, let alone a coherent set of policy options, tools and practical actions. Major motion pictures such as The City of God (Latin America), The Constant Gardener (Africa) and Slum Dog Millionaire (Asia) offer a glimpse of this phenomenon but they lack a sense of history and relative progress. Tens of thousands of cities and towns are each in their own way grappling with how to manage rapid urban growth, be it in the form of urban sprawl, urban decay or slum formation. Some are achieving success against great odds. Member States, also in relative isolation, are beginning to promote national policies to make municipal and local action possible. Hundreds, perhaps thousands of organizations, are setting precedents, developing tools and offering policy options to meet the urban challenge. Yet these actions are disparate. Their work is not recognized or assessed and the collective impact of their actions is not realized.