MetroHUB Global Capacity Development Programme

UN-Habitat’s Policy, Legislation and Governance Section established the MetroHUB Capacity Development Programme. This programme supports development of capacities for metropolitan management, through training with an emphasis on policy, governance, legislation, and planning at metropolitan scales. It enhances the knowledge of urban leaders, local actors, and public servants to manage metropolitan areas and develop instruments and tools that allow better governance, financing and planning of metropolises. This programme focuses on all target groups in UN-Habitat’s capacity building strategy, namely local, sub-national and national governments, as well as private, academic, community and civil society sectors, aiming contributing the consolidation of a new metropolitan discipline and metropolitan practice in territorial management.

The lines of action of the MetroHUB Capacity Development Programme consists of:

Line 1. Training: Partnering with universities and academic institutions to set postgraduate programs and specialized training programs on metropolitan affairs.
Line 2. Exchange: Developing field visits and knowledge exchanges on metropolitan management for students and professors and facilitating internships at UN-Habitat for undergraduate, masters, and doctoral students.
Line 3. Research: Promoting research projects on metropolitan management and spatial analysis applied to the metropolises.
Line 4. University-State Partnership: Presenting the research outcomes to public institutions responsible for metropolitan development and facilitating cooperation between academia and governments for the implementation of the SDGs and NUA.
Line 5. Universities Network: Strengthening the linkages and networking among the universities, academics and metropolitan experts participating in all the MetroHUB capacity development activities.

Line 1. Training

The trainings on metropolitan management are interdisciplinary and build on three basic courses:

Urban and metropolitan policy and governance;
Urban and metropolitan legislation;
Urban and metropolitan planning

The contents may vary according to the local context as well as the focus of the academic institutions, government or NGOs serving as UN-Habitat partner for the respective training. Each of the courses contains recent data and trends, case studies, assessment methodologies and frameworks, and one MetroLab, which is a workshop to apply the knowledge and methodologies learnt to the analysis and solutions-design in one specific metropolitan case. The urban and metropolitan policy and governance course covers topics such as: institutional solutions, decision-making, collective action, citizen participation, multilevel governance, digital governance, subnational and sectoral policies, among others. The urban and metropolitan legislation course covers: regulatory frameworks enabling territorial management, regulatory compliance with global development agendas, good and effective legislation, the right to the city, and international trends on metropolitan legislation. The urban and metropolitan planning course includes: principles and approaches to territorial planning, planning instruments, trends in metropolitan planning, urban-rural linkages, migration, public health, and urban economy.

During the World Metropolitan Day 2020 UN-Habitat in partnership with the National University of Colombia, presented the post-graduate programme on “Spatial Analysis, Metropolitan Management and Governance. That way, the MetroHUB Capacity Development Programme started to be implemented in the first quarter of 2021 in Colombia, with the participation of 30 people enrolled in metropolitan subjects, from different disciplines such as social, political, and economic sciences; engineering of different specialties; urban planners and architects, all of them under doctorate, master, and specialization studies.

RESOURCES

Metropolitan Management Training Courses Syllabus

Professors of the Colombian Graduate Program – EN

Professors of the Colombian Graduate Program – ES

Courses of the Postgraduate Programme:

Geographical information statistics and technologies.
Analysis and spatial modelling techniques.
Application of geo-statistics for metropolitan analysis.
Metropolitan governance and policies.
Urban and metropolitan legislation.
Urban and metropolitan planning: theory and practice.
Regional development and territorial planning.

The MetroHUB programme has received widespread recognition in the Latin America region as it was featured on in several partner websites.

Line 2. Exchange

This line of action aims to strengthen capacity development through technical visits in metropolitan areas to facilitate the exchange of knowledge and experiences between participants and metropolitan authorities and actors through peer to peer methodologies and in situ knowledge. The technical mission is a space for knowledge management and exchange of experiences on fundamental aspects of metropolitan development, related to the governance model, regulatory frameworks, financing mechanisms, policies and plans for land use, mobility, environment, public space, among other topics. In addition, it will allow to know the experiences and the development of policies and plans in situ and establish strategic alliances to strengthen knowledge and skills in metropolitan management.

Misión Internacional de Capacitación
Área Metropolitana de Guadalajara

Line 5. Universities Network

Currently, UN-Habitat is working with more than 20 universities and academic institutions worldwide with the purpose of packaging the capacity development programmes on metropolitan management and establishing a specialized hub on metropolises within the Universities Network Initiative (UNI). This UNI-MetroHUB partnership will continue strengthening the linkages and networking among the universities, academics and metropolitan experts participating in the numerous learning sessions, trainings, field visits, knowledge exchanges, studies, and other capacity building related services supported by the Agency.

MAIN AND INITIAL PARTNERS:

L’Institut Paris Region, France; Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design, Israel; Seoul Institute of Technology and Konkuk University, Korea; Milano Polytechnic, Italy; University of Cambridge, UK; Universidad Comunera, Paraguay; National University and Andes University, Colombia; College of Urban Jurisprudence, Mexico.

OTHER POTENTIAL PARTNERS:

Los Andes University and Central University, Venezuela; University of Buenos Aires, Argentina; Austral University, Chile; University of Cape Town, South Africa; Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands; University College London, UK; National Research University Higher School of Economics and Strelka Institute for Media, Architecture and Design, Russia; Kadir Has University, Turkey; Tsinghua University, China; School of Planning and Architecture, India.