Venice City Solutions 2021 – SDGs Solutions to Rethink the City

1 Dec 2021

Venice City Solutions 2030 is an annual event to advance and promote the localisation of the SDGs, identifying and sharing promising tools and practices of local and regional governments. It wants to bring together traditional and non-traditional partners to consider Agenda 2030 as an instrument to transform cities, trigger individual and collective action and help municipalities plan, deliver and communicate better.

Venice City Solutions is an all-year long process that brings partners together to develop narratives on how local governments can better contribute to Agenda 2030. This year’s edition is co-organised by UCLG the Italian Association for the Council of European Municipalities (AICCRE), UN-Habitat and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)The event also counts with the contribution of the following institutions Platforma, the European Union and the Centro Studi sulle Arti della Russia.

This fourth edition focuses on how cities and local governments are contributing to make Sustainable Development Goals a reality for all, considering the 2030 Agenda and SDGs provide both a shared roadmap and vision for the future of cities and territories, particularly in face of the pandemic.

Following a challenging context, this fourth edition focuses on innovations and aims to gather solutions that local governments and their partners are already implementing and bringing to their cities. The practical approach of this edition will inspire local and regional governments in the materialisation of SDGs, bringing about the necessary changes in local action whilst engaging citizens. This year’s concept seeks to “go to the point” by offering a platform to share the diverse ways SDGs are being advanced at the local level, using them as planning tools of a shared vision, the Agenda 2030.

This year the event will be celebrated under the theme SDGs Solutions to Rethink the City, where the 2030 Agenda provides a shared vision and the SDGs specific tools to transform the future of cities and territories. The two-day event will kick-off with an institutional welcome and will be structured by four different trails encompassing the themes of inclusion, sharing ideals, transformation and planning.

First, will come the blue trail that focuses on inclusion, addressing inequalities in the city with the participation of speakers such as the Andalusian Municipal Fund for International Solidarity (FAMSI), the Barcelona Province, Camila Cociña from University College London or Bahram Ghazi from the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. The following session, the red trail on sharing ideals will provide a forum for the role that culture plays when localising SDGs with respondents from the cities of La Paz, Bolivia, Xian, China and Bilbao, Spain. The second day will feature the yellow session centred around transformation and new modes of sustainable mobility with the presence of local representatives from India, Argentina and also the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean and the International Association of Public Transport. The final green trail will focus on urban planning and particularly on how SDGs can be used to build back better. This session will also present the findings from the 2021 Localizing Report by UCLG and feature partners from Uruguay, Madrid, Brazil, together with Rosa Pavanelli from Public Services International.

Venice is also the meeting point for UCLG Local4Actions Hubs, an initiative that aims to foster an active global community of cities and regions contributing to the achievement of the 2030 Agenda. The UCLG Local4Actions Hubs are a platform that connects, synchronises and accelerates the 2030 Agenda localization by creating a platform for visibility through peer exchange, learning, advocacy and communication work.

The recommendations and narratives produced in Venice are presented during the High-Level Political Forum, the official UN event that assesses the state of implementation of Agenda 2030. Such a platform offers an opportunity for member states to raise attention on issues that cities, local governments and their partners believe to be essential to reach the full potential of the SDGs.

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Find the concept notes in English, French, Italian and Spanish!

More information on the agenda for this fourth edition can be found in English, French, Italian and Spanish.

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