World Cities Day 2015, October 31

 世界城市日‬,‪‎10月31日.
World Cities Day‬,‪ ‎31 October‬‬. ‪‎
Día Mundial de las Ciudades‬, ‪‎31 de octubre‬.
Всемирный день городов‬, ‪31 октября‬. ‪‎
Journée mondiale des villes‬, ‪‎31 octobre‬. ‪
يوم مدن العالم، 31 أكتوبر.

Better City, Better Life, Designed to live together.

2015年主题：城市，让生活更美好 城市设计，共创宜居。

Theme 2015 : Better City, Better Life, Designed to live together.

Tema de 2015 : Mejor ciudad. Mejor vida Diseñadas para convivir.
Тема 2015: Лчше город — лучше жизнь. Спроектирован для совместного проживания.
Thème 2015: Meilleure ville, meilleure vie, conçu pour vivre ensemble.
موضوع عام 2015: حياة أفضل في مدينة أفضل صُممت لكي نعيش معا


 United Nations Secretary-General's message for the World Cities Day 2015.

The theme of this year’s observance of World Cities Day -- ‘Designed to Live Together’ -- highlights the key role of urban design in building sustainable, socially integrated and prosperous urban environments.
Good design can help tackle climate change. It reduces the impacts of disaster. 
It can help make our cities safer, cleaner, and more equal and integrative.  It promotes equal access to services, jobs and opportunities, and fosters contentment.
The challenges of rapid urbanization figure prominently in the newly adopted 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.  Goal 11 embodies a commitment to “make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable”.  And as part of an integrated agenda, cities and human settlements have an important role to play across the 17-goal spectrum.
The United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development, Habitat III, to be held in Quito, Ecuador in October 2016, is an opportunity to discuss
a New Urban Agenda that can harness the power and forces behind urbanization and mobilize them for the common good.

Cities and human settlements are places we live, share, create, build and dream together.  Let us use good design to make them sustainable, inclusive and prosperous
for all.

 Ban Ki-moon, United Nations

  Statement by Dr. Joan Clos, UN-Habitat Executive Director, on World Cities Day 2015.

Cities are one of the most complex human creations. They are the places we design to live together. This year the World Cities Day focuses on the capacity that urban design has to affect how we live, how we move around, how our neighbourhoods look like and how safe we feel on the streets.

Urban form is the combination of streets, building typologies and networks of public spaces. They form the underlying structure of the city, a skeleton around which people’s lives are built and activities carried out.

Good design contributes to social integration, equality and diversity. Planning residential areas with different possibilities in terms of typology and price enables residents from different backgrounds and income levels to live together, prevents the creation of isolated ghettos or gated communities, fights segregation and discrimination. Good design gives space for different cultures, ethnicities and lifestyles to mix and come together.

Good design fosters sustainable use of shared resources. Planning compact, denser cities reduces the overexploitation of natural resources, and facilitates common living by enabling equal access to land, food and water for all.

Good design inspires lively neighborhoods. Designed public spaces, parks, playgrounds, streets and squares filled with activities help create a vibrant public life for all residents.

Good design can make cities safer. Neighbourhoods that remain active and lively at night, with commercial activities on the ground floors, pedestrian friendly well-lit streets and public spaces mean increased personal safety and security.

Good design fosters proximity to jobs and services. With good infrastructure and public transport, higher building density and mixed use neighbourhoods, jobs, markets, schools and recreation are closer to people’s homes and are easily accessible by foot, bike or public transport.

Good design helps to create clean, healthy cities. Denser cities and proximity to jobs and services mean reduced need for car use, less congestion and less pollution, as well as more sustainable usage of land and preservation of the natural and green areas.

Good design anticipates climate change and reduces the impacts of disasters. Planning with sensitivity to the surrounding nature, avoiding development in risky zones, planning natural buffers and prevention systems in flood or earthquake prone areas builds resilient settlements and safe communities.

How we all ensure good design is part of the planning and managing process of a city is key for our urban future. The Agenda 2030 recognizes in SDG 11 the importance of “making cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable”. The New Urban Agenda to be adopted at the United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development – Habitat III-next October 2016 will be a key milestone to achieve an effective implementation of a transformative urban agenda.

Dr. Joan Clos

 Statement of the United Cities and Local Governments on World Cities Day 2015.

FORUM :  World Cities Day - October 31.

How cities can be designed for all to live together?

• Planned not only to generate jobs and opportunities, but also help build socially integrated, livable, open neighborhoods.
• Planning residential areas with different possibilities in terms of typology and price enables residents from different backgrounds and income levels to live together.
• Designing through participative processes helps people come together around shared goals and visions, and promotes everyone’s equal access to services, jobs and opportunities.
• Designing compact, denser cities reduces the over exploitation of natural resources, and facilitates common living by enabling equal access to land, food and water for all.
• Designing public spaces, parks, playgrounds, streets with pedestrian space and commercial activities help create a vibrant public life for all residents.

Planned urbanization maximizes the capacity of cities to generate employment and wealth, and to foster diversity and social cohesion between different classes, cultures, ethnicities and religions. Cities designed to live together create opportunities, enable connection and interaction, and facilitate sustainable use of shared resources.
The theme of 2015 World Cities Day promotes togetherness and harmony, making our cities and neighbourhoods inclusive and livable.



Towards Habitat III : World Cities at a crossroads.
The United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development - Quito, Ecuador.

17-20 October 2016

Toward Habitat III

Design Competition : 
Highlighting and recognizing designs and designers that will best depict the state of our towns and cities today. World Cities Day 2015, Design competition.

Urban Nights :
 An initiative for an outdoor, picnic style screening to: bring people together, promote local talent and utilize open spaces. Urban Nights 2015.

City 'Liveability' index 

WHILE residents of Melbourne enjoy another year in the world’s most liveable city, according to the 2015 Global Liveability Ranking from our corporate cousin the Economist Intelligence Unit, spare a thought for those who live in the 57 cities that have steadily deteriorated over the last five years.

Change in city score 2010-2015

 

City 'Liveability' index

Best Cities - 2015, based on liveability index