Marmara Urban Forum celebrates World Metropolitan Day

“When it comes to metropolitan governance, we need multi-level governance; We must go beyond political and administrative boundaries. It was argued that only 15% of the SDGs were accessible by 2030. We set a goal for 2030 what we should have achieved centuries ago. We want global public investment and green solutions.”

Kocaeli Metropolitan Municipality Deputy Secretary General, Hasan Aydınlık remarked, “We are living in the Anthropocene age. If the food that people eat is not accessible and safe, we cannot be sure of human health. The epidemic is a metropolitan disease. How to ensure security in natural events and food crises, how to prevent migration due to climate and war crises are the issues that need to be studied. In the epidemic, for example, the borders were closed, but can you prevent living beings, no. We need to learn from our mistakes.”

On his part, Büyükçekmece mayor and Marmara Municipalities Union Committee Member, Hasan Akgün, emphasized that the issue of finance is important for the citizens to be happy within the metropolitan borders, that the metropolises do not receive the necessary share of the national income and that this should change.
Jordi Vaquer, Secretary General of Metropolis, underlined that people have defined cities as the opposite of nature for a very long time, but now nature and metropolitan cities should make an alliance, especially in the face of the climate crisis.

The session titled “Global Experiences and Solutions to Transform Metropolises” was moderated by Antonella Contin, Research Assistant at the Department of Architecture and Urban Studies at the Polytechnic University of Milan. It featured mayor López of Bogotá, President of Metropolis, Gérémie Solle, Deputy Mayor of Douala and Elisenda Alamany, Vice President of International Relations and Digitalization of the Barcelona Metropolitan Area. In the session, leaders shared how they are redesigning their cities and strengthening their ties with rural areas to increase environmental sustainability and reduce their ecological footprint.

The session “Metropolis as a Regional Solution to Urban Problems” was moderated by UN-Habitat Policy Governance and Metropolitan Areas Expert Rafael Forero. Speakers included Dhaka North Mayor Atiqul Islam, Ramallah mayor Issa Kassis and São Paulo Municipality Deputy Secretary General for International Relations Ana Cristina Wanzeler. The session discussed how cities can use a regional approach to challenges.

In the Global Perspectives session, moderated by Laura Valdés Cano, Policy Director of Metropolis, the speakers shared the experiences of metropolitan managers in leading their communities in a changing world.

MMU Secretary General M. Cemil Arslan remarked that “Our world is actually in a better condition than it was 200 years ago. Infant mortality is lower, life expectancy is longer, there are more open systems, but inequalities are not decreasing, exclusions are not decreasing, hostility to democracy and authoritarianism are not decreasing. We have something to figure out.”