Renewal of the agreement with UN-Habitat to create more resilient cities

Coinciding with World Habitat Day, the collaboration agreement with the UN-Habitat global programme for resilient cities has been renewed for four years. The extension means the office at the Sant Pau Art Nouveau Site can continue its work to plan and create more resilient cities, particularly with the current scenario of a global pandemic.

05/10/2020 18:48 h

Ajuntament de Barcelona

The agreement reaffirms UN-Habitat’s confidence in Barcelona, which is the only city in the world with a programme beyond its headquarters, in Nairobi, consolidating it as a centre for research and planning in sustainable urbanism, urban governance and risk management.

Urban resilience is not just about the economic recovery or the urban and environmental transformation, but also about resilience from a social and digital perspective, to achieve an inclusive model which helps combat the digital divide and ensures equality of rights for everyone.

The collaboration between Barcelona and UN-Habitat is fundamental for carrying out the UN’s urban resilience projects, helping to realise global agendas, sharing Barcelona’s innovative practices around the world and connecting the city with global initiatives such as ‘Developing Resilient Cities 2030’ and the World Urban Forum.

Alliance to build urban resilience since 2013

As a result of the relationship between Barcelona and the UN-Habitat programme, the latter set up the World Urban Resilience Programme and the Urban Resilience Hub at the Sant Pau Art Nouveau Site.

The first stage of collaboration was devoted to developing Barcelona’s resilience profile by gathering data and developing four cross-cutting lines of analysis:

  • housing accessibility
  • access to basic services
  • risk of social exclusion
  • gender inequalities

Barcelona is now an example for other municipalities and provides support for cities in developing countries, such as Maputo and Dakar, to improve their capacity for implementing action on resilience.