Reforging Post-Pandemic Pathways to Sustainable Development in Asia and the Pacific-Commitments from 8thAsia-Pacific Urban Forum

For the past three decades, the Asia-Pacific Urban Forum has been the region's premier multi-stakeholder forum on sustainable urban development. The 8th Asia-Pacific Urban Forum (APUF-8) was held from 23 to 25 October 2023 in Suwon City, Republic of Korea, bringing together diverse stakeholders to reflect on the multiple and intersecting crises faced by cities in Asia and the Pacific. In this context, ESCAP and UN-Habitat launched at APUF-8 their joint publication, Crisis Resilient Urban Futures: The Future of Asian & Pacific Cities 2023 report, which offered policy recommendations towards a sustainable urban recovery from crises. APUF-8 was co-organized by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) and Suwon City, in strategic partnership with the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport of the Republic of Korea, and in cooperation with UN-Habitat, Habitat for Humanity International and CityNet as well as a range of supporting partner organizations.

APUF-8 sessions drew unique insights from urban thought leaders, government officials and major stakeholder groups, based on experiences of resilience-building, urban transformations and innovative approaches and actions to support the New Urban Agenda and the decade for action for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Importantly, the forum also included a High-Level ministerial session, which resulted in the High Level Communique for Sustainable Urban Development in Asia-Pacific, which highlighted priority actions, partnerships for collaborative action and recommendations for follow-up and review.

This networking event will share key outcomes from APUF-8 and continue dialogues among multi-stakeholder members of the Penang Platform for Sustainable Urbanization (PPSU) and others to strengthen collaboration and collective action towards addressing the complex challenges of sustainable urbanization in Asia and the Pacific and to implement the recommendations in the APUF-8 High-Level Communique. By bringing together mutually committed partners, the event aims to facilitate knowledge exchange, share best practices, and identify innovative solutions. Ultimately, the goal is to strengthen commitments among stakeholders and inspire collective action towards building a better future for communities across the region and world.

The discussions will be moderated and include distinguished panelists composed of key partners from APUF-8. Initially a short introduction and presentation (15 minutes) will be made to provide an overall orientation and share major outcomes for the benefit of the participants. The panelist group, expected to include a representative from the High-Level session, a mayor from the Asia Pacific Mayors Academy, the PPSU as well as regional institutions, will then reflect on the APUF-8 outcomes and share with the audience their follow up activities to advance commitments (40 minutes). Several discussants from the floor will then provide their feedback and additional comments to complement the panel group (15 minutes). The event will then provide sufficient time and opportunity for the wider audience to ask questions to the panelists (15 minutes) before the moderator will end with summary remarks (5 minutes).