UN Habitat are conducting a series of Webinars on Urban Rural Linkages. The aim of these Webinars are to ‘exchange information and learn from the efforts of different actors to overcome this crisis and enhance post-crisis recovery actions by bringing a focus to urban-rural linkages and integrated territorial approaches.’

Background material for the discussions are Urban-Rural Linkages Guiding Principles: Framework for Action to Advanced Integrated Territorial Development. This outlines 10 key guiding principles and 11 areas of action ‘based on the premise that urban and rural areas should not be treated as separate entities when developing plans, policies and strategies. Rather, the aim is to harness the potential that their combined synergy generates.’ (UN Habitat 2019)

The Webinar that I attended on 14 May discussed Metropolitan Perspectives in terms of Integrated Governance. Speakers represented the Metropolitan Area of Guadalajara, Mexico; Grenoble-Alpes Métropole, France; and the World Association of the Major Metropolises. This is an opportunity for people across the globe to share information about their lived experiences during this pandemic.

COVID-19 ravages metropolitan areas more than rural areas because of larger populations and higher population densities, however, there is need for integrated planning. Some of the key messages that I noted were:

• There is no solution without collaboration.
• There must be a willingness to open dialogue, especially in the metropolitan spaces.
• We are witnessing competing priorities between the economy and health.
• Response to COVID-19 has meant a speeding up of service delivery to communities.

Topics canvassed included food supply, water supply, waste management, mobility, security, gender violence policies. Some ideas that were raised for further consideration were:

• Growing out of poverty towards decent work,
• Urban agriculture,
• Short food chains and relocalisation of agriculture,
• New ways to generate prosperity more in harmony with the rural environment,
• Understand how the current restrictions on mobility/transportation are affecting rural communities.

Lia Brum, Metropolis Observatory Officer, Secretariat General World Association of the Major Metropolises, invited local authority administrators to join the newly established Cities for Global Health website and contribute first-hand experiences, their plans, policies and strategies, designed as a reaction to the COVID-19 outbreak, and also initiatives to deal with other health emergencies such as sanitary crisis.

Access to information from the Webinar series is available at: https://urbanrurallinkages.wordpress.com/url-webinars/

Leone Wheeler

References

Metropolis (2020). Cities for Global Health: Collective responses to global health emergencies. from https://www.citiesforglobalhealth.org/

UN Habitat (2019). Urban-Rural Linkages Guiding Principles: Framework for Action to Advanced Integrated Territorial Development. from https://urbanrurallinkages.files.wordpress.com/2019/03/190311_url-gp_flyer_ab_10-compressed.pdf.

UN Habitat (November, 2019). Urban-Rural Linkages Newsletter, First Edition. Retrieved from https://sway.office.com/7oGM3NEQpFwppjJF?ref=email&loc=play.

UN Habitate (2019). Urban Rural Linkages: Guiding Principles and Guidelines for Acton to Advance Integrated Territorial Development. Webinar Series. Retrieved from https://urbanrurallinkages.wordpress.com/