Cities Developing Solutions - Maruf (Marmara Urban Forum) Report

In this event, the evolving urban agenda of the Marmara Region will be introduced based on the reports and sub-reports of MARUF19, MARUF21, and MARUF23, A discussion on the reported policies will be opened in collaboration with Metropolis and Play the City. The speaker from MMU will initiate a discussion on resilience and beyond as the main theme of MARUF23, based on the axis of MARUF reports over the past years and the outcomes emerged in each forum. The speaker from the Play the City will give insight from the Play Marmara which produced solutions using the power of gamification with a specific theme for each MARUF. Finally, the speaker from Metropolis will discuss the reported perspective of nature-based solutions in metropolises around the world at the World Metropolitan Day organized within MARUF in Istanbul.
MARUF is a biennial international urban forum organized by the Marmara Municipalities Union (MMU), held every two years since 2019. The key motto of MARUF is “Cities Developing Solutions”. MARUF aims to find alternative ways to discuss urban issues and contribute to the implementation of the New Urban Agenda. In collaboration with all stakeholders at local, regional, national, and international levels, the main targets of MARUF are the analyzing economic, political, social, and ecological impacts of urbanization on human lives and cities, raising awareness of safe, inclusive, resilient, and sustainable urbanization approaches, contributing to the transformation of cities to make them more livable and equitable, seeking solutions to the challenges that cities face and multiplying good practices on a global scale, and discussing how to strengthen the role of cities and local governments in emergency situations and global challenges. In 2021, MARUF was held as a virtual forum with the call of “Re-think, Co-act”. In 2023, with the theme of “Resilience and beyond” MARUF was organized in Istanbul, and also hosted World Metropolitan Day in collaboration with Metropolis.
World Metropolitan Day commemorates the adoption of the Montreal Declaration on Metropolitan Areas by providing a global forum that brings together metropolises from all over the world. Since 2018, Metropolis and UN-Habitat have been promoting a better urban future by advancing World Metropolitan Day within the framework of Urban October. The goal of the World Metropolitan Day is promote collective action to create resilience, advance social justice, and develop better public services for all our urban spaces.
Play Marmara, designed as a serious game by Play the City based on real data, brings together different actors working for the Marmara Region. As a sub-report, the first one was specifically focused on the Marmara Region holistically, the second one was related to the inland sea, and the last one centered on the food and logistics issues in the region. It provides the opportunity for experts and mayors to make decisions together.