(MENAFN- Kuwait News Agency (KUNA)) NEW YORK, May 18 (KUNA) - The new global flagship report on sustainable urban development launched by UN-Habitat on Wednesday, states that a New Urban Agenda is needed to unlock the transformative power of cities.
The UN program that is working towards a better urban future, said in its latest report (The World Cities Report 2016, Urbanization and Development: Emerging Futures), that the top 600 cities, with 1/5th of the world's population, produce 60 percent of global Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
However, when unplanned and unmanaged, urbanization can lead to increased inequality, the growth of slums and disastrous impacts on climate change, according to the report.
In a press release, the UN-Habitat Executive Director, Dr Joan Clos, said that in the twenty years since the Habitat II conference, the world has seen a gathering of its population in urban areas, which has been accompanied by socioeconomic growth in many instances. As the urban landscape is changing, Clos said that "a cohesive and realistic approach to urbanization" is needed.
"A New Urban Agenda is required to effectively address the challenges and take advantage of the opportunities offered by urbanization," said Clos.
The report noted that the changing urban landscape, as the urban population increases, the land area occupied by cities is increasing at a higher rate. It is projected that by 2030, the urban population of developing countries will double, while the area covered by cites could triple.
The report highlighted that the fastest growing urban centres are the medium and small cities with less than one million inhabitants, which account for 59 percent of the world's urban population.
On persistent and emerging challenges, the report said that the urban areas around the world are facing greater challenges than they did 20 years ago when Habitat II Conference took place. The persistent urban issues include the growing number of urban residents living in informal settlements and the challenge of providing urban services. The emerging urban issues include climate change; exclusion and rising inequality; rising insecurity; and upsurge in international migration.
In its press release, the UN Habitat said that the cities "account for between 60 and 80 percent of energy consumption, and generate as much as 70 percent of the human-induced greenhouse gas emissions primarily through the consumption of fossil fuels for energy supply and transportation." The war in Syria has given rise to the largest humanitarian crisis since World War II. In 2015, more than 1.5 million forced migrants and refugees arrived in Europe compared to 280,000 in 2014.
The report noted that despite growing negative public perception of migrants and refugees, previous experience of refuge crisis shows that migrants can, eventually become valuable contributors to the economic and social development of countries. A major emerging urban issue capable of undermining the long-term sustainability of cities worldwide concerns insecurity and increasing risk.
The analysis of urban development of the past twenty years presented in this maiden edition of the World Cities Report shows, with compelling evidence, that there are new forms of collaboration and cooperation, planning, governance, finance and learning that can sustain positive change. The report unequivocally demonstrates that the current urbanization model is unsustainable in many respects. It conveys a clear message that the pattern of urbanization needs to change in order to better respond to the challenges of our time, to address issues such as inequality, climate change, informality, insecurity, and the unsustainable forms of urban expansion. (end) mao.ibi