Asia-Pacific Urban Forum 7: Future of Asia and Pacific Cities
Theme: “Future of Asia and Pacific Cities: Transformative Pathways to Achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”
The Seventh Asia-Pacific Urban Forum (APUF-7) will be held from 15-17 October 2019 in Penang, Malaysia, to mobilize partners from across the region to focus on accelerating implementation to achieve a sustainable future for cities throughout Asia and the Pacific. APUF-7 will bring a diverse array of cities, expert speakers and thought leaders who are shaping the region’s urban future. Held every 4-5 years since the first APUF was held in Bangkok in 1993, the Forum is the largest regional gathering of urban stakeholders, engaging policymakers from local and national governments, financial institutions, civil society, the academia, the urban training-research community and private sector to discuss innovative solutions, identify common actions and objectives and strengthen effective partnerships to achieve sustainable urban development.
In 2019 APUF-7 will provide this unique platform to discuss and analyze the status, challenges and opportunities of the implementation of the New Urban Agenda, the Paris Agreement, the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction and the 2030 Agenda in the region. APUF-7 will also be the venue to launch The Future of Asia-Pacific Cities 2019 report being developed by ESCAP and UN-Habitat in partnership with the European Union, Asian Development Bank, The Rockefeller Foundation, UNDP, Singapore’s Centre for Liveable Cities and many others.
The Future Cities report will focus on the implementation of urban solutions across different typologies of cities against four critical development challenges – natural resource management, climate change, disaster risk, and rising inequalities – through enabling four means of implementation – urban/territorial planning, governance and capacity development, data and technologies for smart cities and urban financing– for the accelerated achievement of sustainable urbanization and sustainable development outcomes for Asia-Pacific cities.