Local and Regional Governments Roundtable

With six out of every ten people in the world expected to reside in urban areas by 2030, rising to nearly 70 percent by 2050, cities are where the future of sustainability will be defined. Local and regional governments and leaders are facing critical challenges in the provision of public services, including housing, health, digitalization and financing, which have been exacerbated by conflicts, health emergencies and climate change.

This session aims to facilitate discussions on how to cities can raise their potential and improve citizens' lives, while re-imagining the future of our cities.

Effective Territorial Governance for a Renewed Social Contract

• Which are the major urban challenges that need multilevel collaboration in your territory? How could these frameworks be strengthened?
• As cities and territories recover from the impacts of the pandemics, what kind of new social contract needs to be endorsed based on People, Planet and Government to achieve sustainable urban futures?
• What legal and financial mechanisms are in place in your country to support local and territorial governments and enable them to appropriately harness their potential?
• What are the necessary preconditions to establish institutional cooperative frameworks?  
• What policies should be promoted to enhance collaboration across all scales of government and societal groups to guide the implementation of global agendas such as the 2030 Agenda or the New Urban Agenda?  
• What are the roles of the different levels of government and relevant stakeholders in ensuring transformative urban resilience?
• How to guarantee participative and balanced decision-making in multi-level governance arrangements?
• What is the role of multilateral institutions in supporting the cooperation between local and national governments? What added value can they bring in the effort to revamp the social contract?