Cities of the World: Past, Present, Future

A thematic exhibition "Cities of The World: Past, Present, Future" dedicated to World Cities Day is open in the Documents of International Organizations Reading Room (207g) from October 6 to November 2.

This Day is celebrated annually on October 31 since 2014. It was launched by a decision of the UN General Assembly (Resolution A/RES/68/239) in December 2013, with the aim of drawing the attention of the general international community to the problems of the world's cities and global urbanization.

Currently, more than half of the world's population lives in cities. Considering this figure is forecast to rise to 68 per cent by 2050, urbanization has become one of the most transformative and visible phenomena in society. At the beginning of the 1800s, 2% of the population lived in cities, and by the 1950s it was 30%. Every day the world's cities grow by almost 180,000 people.

This rapid urbanization poses a number of serious challenges to humanity in the areas of housing, environmental protection, climate change, infrastructure, basic services, food security, health, education, decent employment, personal security and natural resources. With the right approach, urbanization can also be an essential means of sustainable development. Today, there is an urgent need to make urbanization a driving force for change in order to take full advantage of the concentration of large numbers of people in one place, which will enable sustainable economic growth for all, social and cultural development and environmental protection.

The UN has already held three conferences on human settlements to develop an effective action plan to ensure live-friendly urban conditions and to monitor its implementation. The first was held in Vancouver in 1976 (Habitat I), the second was in Istanbul in 1996 (Habitat II), and in the third conference (Habitat III) was held in Quito, Ecuador, on October 2016, where participants adopted the New Urban Agenda, which contains global standards for planning, governance and urban life. This document is a direct continuation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development adopted in September 2015, which includes Goal 11, "Making Cities Inclusive, Safe, Resilient and Sustainable"

The adoption of the New Urban Agenda gave a strong impulse to solve urbanization issues for the next two decades. The goal is to end poverty and hunger, reduce inequality, improve people's health and well-being, protect the environment and achieve high levels of sustainable development by rethinking the planning, design, financing, management of urban development strategies and tactics.

The exhibition presents more than 90 documents in Russian and English. Among them are periodicals, mimeographed materials of UN, brochures.

The exhibition includes the following thematic sections:

• Urbanization and Sustainable Urban Development
• Planning and Managing Urban Development. UN-Habitat activities
• Socio-Economic Issues of Urban Development
• Urban Environment and City Ecology
• Socio-Cultural Development of Cities
• The Largest Megacities of the World: on the Way to the Future

The exhibition will be of interest to teachers, graduate students and students of higher educational institutions of humanitarian and economic majors, scientists, specialists in the field of geography, demography, sociologists, architects, government officials, as well as to everyone who is interested in the process of urbanization and the socio-economic development of cities and settlements.

Related links

• World Cities Day
• World Habitat Day (first Monday in October)
• United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT)
• Goal 11. Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable
• Special session of the General Assembly “Istanbul + 5” (New York, 6-8 June 2001)

Documents

• Resolution Establishing the Day (A/RES/68/239)
• Report of the United Nations Conference on Human Settlements Habitat II (Istanbul, Turkey, 3-14 June 1996)
• New Urban Agenda(Habitat III)

The opening hours of the exhibition correspond to the library’s opening hours.
Entry is by a library card or by Social and Cultural Center ticket.

For more info: (+375 17) 293 27 34.

Official Documents Service Department