World Urban Campaign

The Urban Economy Forum has partnered with the World Urban Campaign, an initiative of UN-Habitat, to organize an Urban Thinkers Campus– North America Women and Urban SDGs: An Urban Paradigm Shift Towards Gender Equality in collaboration with the Commonwealth Association of Planners. It has been emphasized that while women’s equality and empowerment is one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals, it is also integral to all dimensions of inclusive and sustainable development.

UTC North America Women and Urban SDGs: An Urban Paradigm Shift for Gender Equality and Equity

Cities have a key role to play in promoting gender equality and equity, and empowering women and girls to be active members in all aspects of society. This is critical to achieving the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly SDG 11 - sustainable cities and communities and SDG 5 – gender equality.   

In November of 2020, the UEF and UN-Habitat with support from the Government of Canada and The Daniels Corporation launched the World Urban Pavilion in Regent Park (the Pavilion) in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The Pavilion is a knowledge exchange hub to promote peer to peer learning, share, replicate, and scale up wise and good practices in inclusive, equitable, and sustainable urbanization. It is designed to support cities and towns in achieving the SDGs, with a specialized focus on SDG 11. The Pavilion will enable local actors to design and deliver sustainable development solutions in their own communities globally.

Within the Pavilion, the sub-program Canada, Women and Urban SDGs, is being established to promote leadership in creating inclusive cities by mainstreaming women and girls’ equality and equity in all aspects of urban planning, design, development, governance, and overall city life.

Women have historically been excluded from city-building which have lead to significant gender gaps and inequalities, especially for diverse women. Using a multi-focus gender lens these gaps can be understood and addressed for a more woman-friendly city. Understanding the needs of women and their empowerment requires the use of a feminist perspective in urban design and planning. It is imperative for women to be involved in all stages of development, from decision-making to implementation to policy-making. The need for a paradigm shift from a male-centric urban development model to a gender-inclusive one is the key to designing cities that are safe, inclusive, resilient and sustainable (SDG 11). When women and girls are given equal opportunities to succeed, they can be powerful agents of change to improve the quality of life for their families and communities worldwide.

This will contribute to the following principles in the City We Need NOW campaign:

• Principle #5 - Inclusion and Gender equality: The City We Need is inclusive and promotes gender equality
• Principle #7 - Governance: The City We Need is managed through public participation and democratically governed
• Principle #10 - Learning & Innovation: The City We Need learns and innovates

Objectives

1. Creating a North American dialogue on urban sustainable development and the role of women in achieving the urban SDGs.
2. Shifting an urban paradigm that is inclusive of women’s needs for a gender-sensitive urban planning model.
3. Implementing a global secretariat on Women and Urban SDGs under the umbrella of the Pavilion and in collaboration with the relevant stakeholders.