Co-authored by Doug Ragan, Chief of UN-Habitat Youth and Livelihoods Unit
From October 13-15, a preparatory conference centered around youth and dedicated to knowledge sharing and co-creation relating to sustainable urbanization, YoutHAB, will take place at the Polytechnic University of Ecuador. Led by the Latin American and Caribbean Climate Change Youth Movement (CLIQ!) and supported by the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat), this event will have the participation of 200 youth from Ecuador and many other countries committed to the implementation of the New Urban Agenda.
After four months of in-depth negotiations, the final version of the New Urban Agenda, dated 10 September, has been agreed upon and is ready for adoption when ministers and heads of states gather in Quito next week for Habitat III, the UN Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development. The New Urban Agenda will shape thinking and governmental decision-making for the next two decades and beyond.
The New Urban Agenda marks a tremendous victory for the 1.8 billion young people around the world, as well as the many more that will be added to the planet these upcoming 20 years. The UN-Habitat Youth Advisory Board, a UN-Habitat mandated body composed of 16 youth around the world involved in urbanization, actively fought for the incorporation of age- and gender-response language in this new draft, which is now mentioned in nine different occasions. Meanwhile, the transformative potential of youth was noted 12 times throughout the text, and, in Paragraph 148 under "Means of Implementation", governments agreed to "promote the strengthening of the capacity of national, subnational, and local governments...and youth...enabling them to effectively participate in urban and territorial development decision-making."
While the international community will continue to celebrate the New Urban Agenda up to Quito and beyond, we must now focus on effective implementation. Youth in Latin America and the Caribbean are becoming increasingly important players in sustainable urban development. One in five people living in Latin America and the Caribbean are youth: a staggering 156 million young people, representing the two region's highest level in history.
The outcome of YoutHAB will be a declaration that synthesizes the position of youth regarding the New Urban Agenda. This will be a collaborative project led by youth but in partnership with civil society, the UN, the research community, and the private sector.
This organization of YoutHAB not only reflects the increasing complexity and knowledge of young people to organize, but also their leadership in the public sector. It reflects the needs and demands of young people for a re-imagination of the decision-making processes and the role that young people can play in sustainable urbanization, from urban design to budgeting and the creation of safe and accessible public space free from violence.
With Habitat III just around the corner, young people have much to look forward to and many things to demand, to ensure an ambitious and action-oriented outcome.