The New Urban Agenda – the principles and guidelines for sustainable cities – has been finalized last week in New York and is awaiting signing during the Habitat III conference next month. In the meantime, ECF is preparing its Networking Event to showcase implementation of cycling promotion.

Habitat III is the 3rd conference of the United Nations for housing and sustainable urban development and will take place from 17-20 October 2016 in Quito, Ecuador. In this event, representatives of UN member states and stakeholders will come together to discuss and sign the final version of a document called the “New Urban Agenda” which contains a series of principles and guidelines towards developing more sustainable cities. To find out more about ECF's work in the process, read about our work in Surabaya.

New Urban Agenda Approved

So what does all this have to do with cycling? At ECF we believe that cycling is a solution to a lot of the problems cities face. And we’re happy to report that through our and our friends’ advocacy, the New Urban Agenda now speaks volumes about the need for and potential of cycling in sustainable urban development. This is great, considering that past Habitat conferences barely mentioned cycling. The Habitat conferences take place every 20 years, which means that the last one was held in 1996, in Istanbul (Habitat II). At that time, the majority of the world’s population was not yet living in cities - unlike the reality that we face today - and the challenges were different. Habitat II had as its main demand in its Declaration of Istanbul the “right to adequate housing for all”. Since then, more than 100 nations adopted this right in their constitutions. Moreover, the Habitat II declaration significantly influenced the agenda of the Millennium Goals and, more recently, the Sustainable Development Goal #11: “Make cities inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable”.

Therefore, although the New Urban Agenda discussed for Habitat III is not a binding commitment by states - unlike the Paris Climate Agreement from COP21 - it is possible to observe the influence that this process can have in the way cities will be shaped and planned from now on. Furthermore, the New Urban Agenda will be fundamental to give ECF members arguments to take to their municipal, state and federal governments about the course that their cities should take on sustainable urban mobility. It can become a global advocacy tool to get more people cycling more often!

Cycling Activites in Quito

ECF has also been selected among 1000 applicants for a Networking Event during the Habitat III conference. During this event we will showcase the implementation of cycling promotion and gather all relevant stakeholders to garner discussion on obstacles, solutions, and examples of implementing cycling in cities around the world. We will show that cycling is more than just transport; it is a tool for social inclusion, health, economy, accessibility.

Active and Accessible Cities: Cycling Delivers to the New Urban Agenda and Global Goals
October 20^th, 14h-16h00
Room MR18
Habitat III Conference Venue
Casa de la Cultura Ecuatoriana, Benjamin Carrion

In addition, ECF and WCA are in close collaboration with Bike Anjo (Brazil), Biciaccion (Ecuador), YoutHab to support their work in creating an Active Lab to bring awareness of active mobility. More info to come soon! Cycling is also present in the Habitat Village (an interactive component of the conference set up throughout the city of Quito) through the work of Despacio - more info here (in Spanish). Finally, ECF and our CIC member NextBike will be present in a joint booth during the Exhibition of the conference.

Will you be in Quito for the conference? Contact us!
Want to know more about our Global Policies work? Click here.