Video of the Habitat III event ‘Transforming research into practices and policies’ now available

Urban Transformations held a side event at the recent Habitat III event in Quito, Ecuador, ‘Transforming research into practices and policies – dialogues on implementation and evaluation of the New Urban Agenda‘. The discussions brought together local governments, community activists and academics from Brazil, South Africa and the United Kingdom to explore how comparative research can contribute to the realisation of the New Urban Agenda and the ways that learning can be effectively streamlined into decision making processes.

The speakers included a number of researchers involved in various Urban Transformations projects, including Vanesa Castán Broto, Sophie Hadfield-Hill, Ramin Keivani and Cathy McIlwaine, as well as Beth Chitekwe-Biti (Slum Dwellers International), Cllr Parks Tau (Former Mayor of Johannesburg and now President of the United Cities and Local Governments) and Gabrielle Guimarães (Senior Adviser for Multilateral Cooperation at Rio de Janeiro City Hall). Among other conclusions, the participants highlighted the need for researchers to effectively bridge different institutional contexts to shape urban policy effectively, and the value of knowledge networks and partnerships in achieving this. Furthermore, given the uncertainty of urban futures, they also emphasised the need for adaptive and real-time policy processes alongside longer term visions and strategies.

View the video of the event here.

Besides the side event itself, details of other activities in which the Urban Transformations network participated during Habitat III, as well as a selection of blogs and articles around the New Urban Agenda, can be found here.