11/27/2024

IKI at the 12th World Urban Forum

A group of people gathered around a table during a networking event. They are actively participating in a brainstorming activity, writing on colorful paper shapes spread across the table. A presentation screen in the background displays the title: "IKI Networking Event at WUF 12, Cairo - Sustainable and climate-friendly development of urban areas." A wall slogan reads: "It all starts locally." — IKI networking evening at the 12th World Urban Forum in Cairo.

Entitled ‘It All Starts at Home: Local Actions for Sustainable Cities and Communities’, the 12th World Urban Forum (WUF12) was held in Cairo (Egypt) from 4 to 8 November 2024. Many IKI projects and the IKI itself participated in the event.

Initiated by the United Nations, the WUF is the world’s most important conference on urban issues. Since 2001, stakeholders from the fields of policy, research and practice have met up every two years to share insights and solutions addressing the urgent global topic of rapid urbanisation and its impacts.

The 12th WUF concentrated on the implementation of the sustainable development goals at local level and focused in particular on local measures and initiatives targeting current global challenges like climate change. In the week before the UN Climate Change Conference in Baku (COP29), the topic of finance for urban projects tackling mitigation and adaptation was particularly relevant.

Sustainable urban development in the IKI

The role played by cities in the era of climate change is also reflected by the funding orientation of the International Climate Initiative (IKI). The topic of sustainable urban development has been an overarching priority for the IKI as a whole since 2015 and in 2023 was explicitly stated as such in the IKI strategy. IKI projects support partner countries and cities to develop strategies for sustainable, climate-friendly and resilient urban development, and for urban biodiversity. Integrative and sustainable approaches for the development of urban and peri-urban spaces are a key point of focus here.

The IKI in Cairo: German pavilion and networking evening

A group of about twenty people smiling for a group photo at a networking event. They are all wearing orange name tags. In the background, a white wall displays the text "It all starts together," along with some logos to the left. — A total of 21 people from 13 IKI implementing organisations took part in the network evening.

The IKI was represented in Cairo at the German pavilion and also hosted its own networking event. The 90-minute IKI networking evening was attended by a total of 21 people from implementing organisations and partners from more than 13 IKI projects in the field of urban development.

After a short ‘speed-dating session’ to get to know one another, the participants then used a ‘World Café’ format to tackle the topics of ‘Finance in cities’, ‘Science and Innovation’ and ‘Sustainable neighborhoods’. Some of the topic clusters identified here included the need for made-to-measure finance solutions for urban climate projects, multi-sectoral and inclusive strategies for the sustainable development of urban districts, and the significance of knowledge transfer as well as science and innovation to achieve systemic change directed towards establishing climate-ready cities.

The event was characterised by lively dialogue, in-depth discussions and many new contacts being made. The participants expressed their interest in regular dialogue between IKI projects.

IKI projects at the World Urban Forum

Apart from the IKI itself, many IKI-funded projects were also active participants at the WUF. Overall, more than 13 IKI projects attended the event in Cairo, and organised over 35 side events and workshops. Several different kinds of projects worked together on joint side events as a result of their thematic similarities.

As part of the event Bridging the Gap-Matchmaking Between Cities and Investors for Climate Action, Urban Act consortium member UCLG ASPAC (United Cities and Local Governments Asia Pacific) offered various cities from Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines the chance to pitch their mitigation and adjustment projects to a variety of financial actors – including private investors, development banks and funding bodies – with the aim of initiating dialogue between cities and investors.

The City Climate Finance Gap Fund funded by the IKI also organised an event entitled ‘Closing the City Finance Gap’, which showcased the investment requirements, opportunities and challenges for the funding of urban climate change mitigation measures in low- and middle-income countries.

The IKI projects EcoZones and ‘ACCESS: Accelerating Access to Low Carbon Urban Mobility Solutions through Digitalization’ were also represented at several events, where they highlighted the role of digitalisation and gender justice in establishing a just transition to climate-neutral cities with shared events such as ‘Technology and digitalization as tools to accelerate a just transition to a sustainable future for cities’.

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