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Category: Past events

International standards can help cities mitigate water shortages

On 26 January 2023, the Geneva Cities Hub and ISO co-organized a panel discussion on “International standards in support of cities’ and local authorities’ development agenda”. The event focused on how international standards contribute to improving the well-being of citizens and advancing the development of sustainable smart cities and communities. A series of standards on …

Cities are key to beating plastic pollution  

The Geneva Cities Hub (GCH) organized an informative discussion at the attention of Local and Regional Governments (LRGs), who are directly concerned but not involved yet in the negotiation of the new treaty tackling plastic pollution and looking at the full life cycle of plastic: production, distribution, use and waste management. Leading negotiators from Peru …

Urbanization affects how development cooperation works. It also affects diplomacy.

On 6 December 2022, the Geneva Cities Hub was invited to speak about “Urbanization and climate change: what challenges for the countries from the Global south?” at an event organized by Helvetas.  GCH emphasized that urbanization had not only impacted the way development cooperation works, but also how diplomacy is conducted. Indeed, as cities grow day …

Refugees go to camps for safety, but they go to cities for opportunities

City governments are best placed to leverage their presence into positive economic and social outcomes for their cities. On 6 December 2022, ahead of the High Commissioner for Refugees’ Annual dialogue on protection challenges, the Geneva Cities Hub co-organized an event with the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) entitled “Cities for refugees: places …

When business meets human rights at the local level

The 11th annual UN Forum on Business and Human Rights focused on efforts at securing accountability and access to remedy for business-related human rights abuse, in order to accelerate the implementation of the United Nations Guiding Principles on business and human rights (UNGPs). The UNGPs provide a global framework for States and businesses to prevent …

World Cities Day: discussion on the digital transformation in cities to improve adaptation actions to the looming climate and water challenge

To celebrate World Cities Day 2022 and as part of the WSIS&SDG TalkX series, Geneva Cities Hub in cooperation with ITU and UN-Habitat organized on 3 November 2022 a webinar dedicated to supporting cities to use digital transformation to improve adaptation actions to the looming climate and water challenge in urban settlements. Climate change is …