Report to

World Society for Ekistics

on

World Urban Forum

UN-HABITAT

Barcelona, Spain

September 13-17, 2004

 

 

Dear Colleagues:

 

            This September, Margery al Chalabi and Suhail al Chalabi were pleased to represent the WSE at the World Urban Forum of the UN-HABITAT.  This was the Second Session of the World Urban Forum (WUF), the first having been convened, in 2002, in Nairobi, Kenya.  The WUF was held at a newly developed and redeveloped part of Barcelona on its sea coast.  This area was developed, in part, to host major conferences and conventions – the first of which was the City’s Universal Forum of Cultures, which took place concurrent with the WUF and during much of the entire month of September.

 

Attendance at the WUF was huge (5,000).  The Opening Session and First Plenary presentations were quite good – especially the presentation by Mr. Mikhail Gorbachev (on water resources), by Professor Jeffrey D. Sachs (on stemming the growth of slums), and by Mr. Joan Clos, Mayor of Barcelona, on the establishment of United Cities and Local Governments, housed in Barcelona.  A film on the reconstruction of Beirut, prior to the presentation of a Special Citation Award to Mr. Rafic Hariri, then Prime Minister of Lebanon, also was quite interesting.

 

            A pre-conference gathering, organized for U.S. attendees by the U.S. Department of State, was quite effective – possibly because it was small - @50 persons who all had an opportunity to talk to one another one-to-one.  Mr. Dennis Shea, Assistant Secretary of HUD, was a lively speaker at the meeting.  We had hoped to continue some of these conversations, later; but the sheer size of the conference made it very difficult.  The person-to-person discussions allowed us to discuss the WSE and its work/members, etc.  Attending presentations, we were limited to observing.

 

            The actual networking events and presentations were fairly small and it was difficult to decide which to attend based on the titles, alone; so, we were in and out of many.  As in any conference, some presentations were quite good; others, were less so.  A newsletter, “Conference News: World Urban Forum”, summarized some of the major discussions of the previous day.  These newsletters – in slightly altered form – were later collected at the WUF Web Site.  Some of the presentations and discussions also are available on the Web Site; but they are difficult to retrieve and download.  I am sending a paper copy and a CD to Panayis Psomopoulos at the Secretariat and a CD to Jurg Lang, for inclusion on the Web Site.  The CD includes:

 

·        This report to the WSE

·        Report of the Second Session of the World Urban Forum

·        “Conference News”, for Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, September 14-17, 2004

·        Several photos of the conference and the City of Barcelona (with identifiers)

·        Adobe Reader (to Secretariat, only)

 

Because the UN HABITAT meeting was presented during a longer, larger Universal Forum of Cultures (most of September) and the Global Youth Congress (Sept 13-17), the general site of the conference was even more densely inhabited.  But these events also contributed to a high level of local/regional interest in the conference and a proliferation of cultural activities and diversity throughout the City of Barcelona.  Consequently, the venue was exciting and casual discussions with attendees were generally interesting.

 

My recommendation for any future WSE attendance is for attendees or the WSE to be involved early enough to have a presence on the program, as presenter or panelist.  The topics and discussions of this conference were heavily influenced by African participants – probably the result of the earlier (First Session) of the WUF, in Nairobi.  I think the conference was very successful in dealing with African issues, and attracted many African attendees.

 

As the next WUF is scheduled for Vancouver in 2006, it is important to begin planning for that event – and participation in it.  Key issues continue to be:

 

·        environmental sustainability

·        improvement of lives of slum dwellers

·        gender  equality

·        urban culture

·        disaster reconstruction

 

            All of the above issues have found excellent spokespersons from WSE.  The Toronto conference certainly addressed environment; I am pleased to learn that the University of Toronto may be among the organizers of the World Urban Forum and UN-HABITAT programs for Vancouver.  It is essential that the U of T encourage participation among WSE members, as well.  The upcoming conference on women, in New York, will certainly address gender equality; and WSE attendance is encouraged.  Urban culture and environment will be major topics at Hikone.  Presentations at the above conferences (past and future) should be examined or structured with the possibility of being presented at the WUF in Vancouver.

 

            WSE members may access the official Ekistics web site, www.Ekistics.org, for the detailed information described in this report.  Do give Jurg Lang a few days to enter it, however.  I am sending Panayis and the Secretariat all the paper copies and a CD.  Also, I am sending 30 or 40 copies of a pamphlet containing a brief description of WSE that we prepared for the conference and still have left.

 

               

Sincerely,

 

 

Margery al Chalabi