• Metropolis: Meeting of Board of Directors, Antananarivo, Madagascar, 16-19 September 2007
  Metropolis’ September 2007 Board of Directors meetings in September of this year will include an exchange of lessons on urban regeneration between the host city, and three Brazilian cities: Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Belo Horizonte. http://www.metropolis.org/index.html.

• UCLG Congress in Jeju, Korea, 28-31 October 2007
  The city of Jeju, Korea will host the United City and Local Government’s (UCLG’s) Second World Congress from 28 to 31 October 2007. The theme of the Congress “Changing Cities are Driving Our World” captures both the dynamism and the crucial role played by local authorities of all sizes. Representatives of the world’s largest and most representative regional and local government organisations will gather to address the issues in the face of growing urban migration. http://www.uclg2007jeju.org/eng/

• Cities Alliance PPF and CG Meetings to be held in Manila, Philippines, 5 - 9 November 2007
  The Government of the Philippines will host the Cities Alliance Public Policy Forum (PPF) and Consultative Group meetings in Manila, 5-9 November 2007. The topic of this year’s PPF is city development strategies. The main topic of discussion during the Consultative Group meetings, the Cities Alliance annual meetings, will be the Alliance’s Medium-term Plan. It is also expected that a number of new members will be admitted. The event will be inaugurated by the President of the Philippines. For more information, please contact Celia Alba of HUDCC, celia.alba@hudcc.gov.ph.
  http://www.cdsea.org/db/default.asp

Understanding Your Local Economy: A Resource Guide for Cities

The Cities Alliance has released a new guide, “Understanding Your Local Economy: A Resource Guide for Cities,” that addresses the challenges of analysing local economic conditions and a city’s comparative and competitive advantages. The role of local authorities in delivering sound local economic development strategies, as part of city development and slum upgrading strategies, is crucial. Cities can better perform, and provide an environment conducive to employment and productivity, through strategies that respond precisely to local economic circumstances. To design efficient city strategies, understanding a city's economic base, its constraints to growth, and competitive advantage is key. Drawing on fifteen case studies, and the methods and experiences of Cities Alliance members and partners, this Resource Guide offers practical guidance to understand the basic components of local economic assessments and technical guidance for practitioners to undertake them.

http://www.citiesalliance.org/publications/homepage-features/aug-07/led-announcement.html

ISTED – Villes en Développement No. 75, March 2007

This special edition of Isted’s Ville en Développement newsletter focuses on city development strategies conducted with Cities Alliance support. Elisabeth Gateau, Secretary-General of United Cities and Local Governments, provides the edition’s foreword.

French version:

http://www.isted.com/periodiques/villes-developpement/bulletin_pdf/bulletin.pdf

English version:

http://www.isted.com/periodiques/villes-developpement/bulletin_pdf/bulletin.pdf

UNFPA State of the World Population 2007: Unleashing the Potential of Urban Growth

The new report of the United Nations Population Fund, State of the World Population 2007: Unleashing the Potential of Urban Growth, focuses on the urbanisation of the world’s population. The report highlights the need to:

• Accept the right of poor people to the city, abandoning attempts to discourage migration and prevent urban growth.

• Adopt a broad and long-term vision of the use of urban space (providing minimally serviced land for housing, planning in advance to promote sustainable land use, and looking beyond the cities' borders to minimize their ‘ecological footprint’).

• Begin a concerted international effort to support strategies for the urban future.

Full report: http://www.unfpa.org/swp/swpmain.htm.

Emerging Cities – French Government, Agence Française de Développement (AFD) and ISTED

Produced in French and in English, this succinct guide to urban and city issues is divided into 12 topics and chapters. Produced primarily as a guide for embassy staff, it provides a wealth of information and links to other resources.

http://www.isted.com/villesendevenir/html/accueil_html/index.html

Alliance Staff Participates in Workshop—City Futures: Exchange Workshop of African Cities on CDSs Based on the MDGs, 18-20 July 2007

United Cities and Local Governments and its regional Africa affiliate organised a Cities Alliance-funded workshop on CDS experiences from 18-20 July 2007 in Johannesburg, South Africa. Participants included representatives from 11 countries and development assistance agencies. Discussions focused on the enabling environment in which cites and towns operate, and the value of strategic city development planning. As a result of the discussions, UCLG and cities proposed working more closely with the Alliance to establish a stronger knowledge and advocacy network to share information at the local level and promote changes at the national level. The workshop was opened by Father Smangaliso Mkhatshwa, President of UCLG and UCLG Africa, and included presentations on CDSs undertaken by Johannesburg, eThwekini (Durban) and Maputo.

Cities Alliance Steering Committee Meetings, April 2007

The Cities Alliance Steering Committee meetings were held in Nairobi in April 2007. Manager William Cobbett presented progress on the drafting of the Cities Alliance Medium-Term Plan (to be presented more fully at the November Consultative Group meetings in Manila). At the meeting, the Steering Committee endorsed the secondment of Gϋnter Meinert of GTZ to the Secretariat, effective 1 July 2007. The future secondment of Thierry Paulais of Agence Française de Développement was also anticipated.

Strengthening Alliance-UN-HABITAT Collaboration, April 2007

Habitat Programme Managers (HPMs) were briefed on Alliance activities by Farouk Tebbal, Senior Urban Specialist, during a dedicated training session organised by UN-HABITAT prior to the 21st session of its Governing Council. Tebbal also met with country delegations and individual UN-HABITAT staff to discuss ongoing and proposed projects as well as collaboration on the 2008/9 State of the World Cities Report.

Farewell and Welcome

The Cities Alliance Secretariat would like to thank Mark Clark for his dedicated service over the past few months of 2007. We wish him well in future endeavours. We would also like to welcome Gϋnter Meinert, seconded from GTZ, to the secretariat. Gϋnter will lead the much-needed monitoring and evaluation work that was identified during the second independent evaluation, and which will aim to continuously improve and strengthen the Cities Alliance work programme as the workload continues to grow.