Financing strategies to strengthen urban economic resilience for inclusive responses to and recovery from crises

The world is still grappling with the socio-economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, compounded by the worsening climate crisis. Cities have been severely affected by climate change and increasingly frequent disasters such as floods, heatwaves, and droughts, with the pandemic having amplified their impact on local government and household finances and overall sustainability. Moreover, cities have also faced disasters, conflicts, and wars, further exacerbating the challenges they face. There is thus a great need to empower local governments and communities to enhance their capacity to respond effectively to socio-environment crises.

Through this event, the City Diplomacy Lab will work together with the five UN Regional Economic Commissions to strengthen awareness and understanding of financial resources and instruments, both public and private, domestic and international, that may be leveraged to strengthen local economic resilience in the face of internal and external stresses and crises in cities across the globe.

This hybrid networking event will be directed at authorities, public officials, and relevant stakeholders involved in economic resilience at the local level. It will take place under the umbrella of the United Nations global level Development Account project Supporting Member States in Urban Economic Resilience building for inclusive responses and recovery regarding natural and artificial disasters and internal and external shocks in the context of the project's goal of enhancing the economic and financial capacity of local governments in the selected cities to mitigate the impacts of shocks and stresses while positively adapting and transforming towards sustainability.

The session will open with a panel discussion involving global-level experts and practitioners, addressing innovative sources for subnational finance, potential financiers, and financial models and instruments, including climate finance, public-private partnerships, land value capture, and gender budgeting, all in relation to building urban economic resilience and financing of local level projects with this objective. The panel will be followed by brief presentations from five cities (one from each UN region) on their current challenges, potential solutions to address challenges, and planned strategies to finance solutions. This will benefit learning from best practices. Panel members will proceed to comment on the cases, providing insights, suggestions, and recommendations for moving forward with designing bankable projects. Participants from the cities profiled will also be given the opportunity to comment on the other cases, thus allowing for sharing of experiences and promoting south-south exchange and learning.