10th Sustainable Cities Conference: “Just Cities”

Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Regional Climate and Energy Project MENA in cooperation with Carboun concluded their 10^th year sustainable cities conference under this year’s name of “Just Cities” on Wednesday September, 29^th, 2021. For two days, experts and practitioners from all over the MENA region shared their expertise paving the way towards more socially just cities.

In its 10^th year, the conference focused on various topics related to cities, starting from how cities can promote social justice and well-being of its citizens, showing that cities can be more just, health and green through rethinking the form and function of the city along with addressing systemic poverty and inequality. Zooming in to more local attributions carried out at municipal level, where municipalities proved to be a main player in the climate agenda, local climate action plans were discussed along with detailing developed guidebooks from Jordan and Tunisia for best practices. Moreover, the financing windows for local actions were also highlighted.

Green and blue infrastructure as well as nature-based solutions were discussed in depth starting from the concepts and science behind it all the way to on ground implemented projects. Lessons learned and obstacles were shared by the experts and the participants.

The conference dedicated a full session for youth, to share their visions, dreams and hopes of better future throughout a poster they designed; where they imagined how they hope their cities to look like in 2030, most of the youth had a shared vision of focusing on the use of renewable and inclusive transport systems while also considering waste and recycling.

In order for our cities to be sustainable, inclusive transport is a main pillar, women leaders who are decision makers and in leading positions under the transport umbrella shared a session discussing the challenges facing women working in the field. All agreed that different needs require different solutions, thus, our transport systems in the region needs to be inclusive by engaging women in the decision-making processes, operational sides and knowledge transfer.

The conference concluded by a video about sustainable cities in general and the conference in particular where partners suggested that local community should be involved in the conference along with academics while the recommendations can be documented as a policy or a white paper.

For the recording of the conference, presentations by experts, posters and the video, please use the following link:

"Just Cities" Day One 28/09/21

"Just Cities" Day two 29/10/21