October 31- World Cities Day

1/5 Min ⏰

World Cities Day brings Urban October to an end on 31 October each year and was first celebrated in 2014. As with World Habitat Day, a global observance is held in a different city each year, and the day focuses on a specific theme.

This year’s global observance is planned in Shanghai, China, under the theme “Act Local to Go Global.” We want to bring different partners and diverse stakeholders together to share their experiences and approaches to the local action, what local action worked and what is needed to empower local and regional governments to create greener, more equitable, and sustainable cities.

Local action is critical to achieving sustainable development goals by 2030. UN-Habitat has been at the forefront of SDG localization since the very endorsement of the 2030 Agenda. Since then, UN-Habitat has been working to advance SDG localization by providing technical expertise to partners across the globe, leading the development of cutting-edge research, capacitating local and regional governments on SDG localization, and strengthening the voice of local governments and local actors within the main international and UN-led fora on SDGs.

Demographics & Urban Future

Until 2009, more people lived in rural than in urban areas. Today, around %55 of the world’s population lives in towns and cities, with the level of urbanization projected to reach almost %70 by 2050. Much of the growth in urban populations will take place in Asia and Africa, especially in China, India, and Nigeria, where the fertility rates remain high.

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