Future of Cities Forum 2015
Thank you to all speakers and participants that contributed to make the Future of Cities Forum 2015 a great success!
We are extremely confident that new thrilling opportunities will be coming up as a result of this year Future of Cities Forum and we look forward to engage further with everyone who took part in the Forum.
About this year Forum
This year, the 5th Future of Cities Forum was held on September 14th and 15th 2015 in Beijing and in Tianjin. On the first day, 14th of September, the Future of Cities Forum was held in Beijing as an official sub-forum of the11th Forum on Environment and Development. On the second day, 15th of September, the Forum moved to Tianjin and will be held as an official subforum of the 6th China International Eco-city Forum & Expo.
The Future of Cities Forum in Beijing was organized in partnership with UNEP China,the United Nations Theme Group on Climate Change and Environment (UNTGCCE), ACEF (All China Environment Federation), China Urban Research Center of Beijing Jiaotong University, CITYNET and the Policy Research Center for Environment and Economy (PRCEE) of the China Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP).
Day 1
The first day of the Forum focused on the UN Sustainable Development goals for cities and how these and other international initiatives can help and guide cities drive sustainable development forward. An open roundtable discussion between Chinese and international participants offered a unique opportunity to openly debate issues that are common across borders, in particular the lack of cooperation across city departments and lack of coordination across governance levels and across multiple stakeholders groups.
This first day of the Forum was held as an official sub-forum of the 11th Forum on Environment and Development organized in partnership with the United Nations Theme Group on Climate Change and Environment (UNTGCCE), with the All-China Environment Federation (ACEF) and with the China Urban Research Center of Beijing Jiaotong University. During the first day we had the chance to sign an official partnership with the China Urban Research Center of the Beijing Jiaotong University. This is an exciting opportunity for the WFC China to partner with a highly respected academic institution and moving forward with the critical task to bridge the gap between research and policy making. The MoU signing was witnessed, among others, by Mr. Yuqing Wang, former Vice Minister for Environmental Protection of China and Mr. Jong Soo Yonn, Head of the United Nations Office for Sustainable Development. Ole Scheeren, architect extremely known particularly in China for being the designer of the iconic CCTV tower in Beijing, was among our keynote speakers.
Day 2
During the second day, the forum moved to Tianjin where we offered a platform to share experiences on sustainable development of cities from China and from around the world. This second day was held as an official sub-forum of the 6th China International Tianjin Eco-city Forum & Expo, and supported by the Policy Research Center for Environment and Economy (PRCEE) of the Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP). The Tianjin Eco-City Forum is one of the largest (almost one thousand participants from all over China) and most prestigious government supported forum in China. We are extremely proud to hear that following the event our partners from Tianjin were extremely happy about working with us and confirmed their commitment to continue this partnership in the future. Among our highlight speakers during the second day were Mr. Zefeng Shan, Deputy Director of the Tianjin Binhai district and Mr. Hing Huang, well-known social entrepreneur and winner of the Right Livelihood Award. The very international set of speakers that we brought from Germany to Canada and from India to Thailand were extremely appreciated particularly given the widespread longing to learn more from international experiences and to improve cooperation for sustainable development among cities around the world.
Pictures
You can find some pictures of the event at the link below:
Pictures of the Forum 2015
Presentations
The presentations slides are available on the download page.
Report
A brief outcome report will be available to be downloaded in the coming weeks.
About last year Forum
During last year´s Future of Cities Forum in Munich, 90 participants including mayors, town councillors, local administrators, researchers, practitioners, communicators and urban planners from 18 countries came together to debate what leadership and participation really look like in cities, share their experiences of building bridges with other urban stakeholders, and explore the factors that create long-term visions for cities. More info on past events please click here.
