Creating cities fit for young people
Fondation Botnar is attending the eleventh session of the World Urban Forum (WUF11) in Katowice, Poland, with a focus on catalysing debate on creating inclusive, safe, and healthy cities for and with young people. It is the largest international conference for sustainable urbanisation and exchanging views and experiences on urban challenges and opportunities. The forum begins on 26 June and ends on 30 June.
Our Engagement
During WUF11, Fondation Botnar will have a physical booth which is an opportunity to present the inspiring work of our partners to new audiences who are attending the conference. We also hope to attract, engage, and inspire visitors – and in particular young people – including through #MyCityMyVoice campaign, where we aim to create a global community both online and offline, of young people to join our network and share their vision for building better cities for youth. View how you can add your voice here.
Come visit us in our booth located in the main exhibition room: Hall 2.1, Stand 6, and explore our other engagements below. If you can’t attend in person, there are plenty of opportunities to engage by signing up as a virtual participant here. Please join the conversation on Twitter under #WUF11 #MyCityMyVoice and @FondationBotnar!
Overview of our activities
View the sessions that we will attend or participate in below and by following our live coverage of some of our key engagements.
#MyCityMyVoice – join the wellbeing movement!
We are excited to launch the #MyCityMyVoice campaign for young people to share their bold ideas on wellbeing in cities during WUF11. If you are an individual or group aged 10-30, we want YOU to share an idea that expresses your vision for a better city. Your ideas will be celebrated by our guests and community at WUF11, and you will be in with the chance of winning a subscription to Calm.
We also invite young people to ask a question about wellbeing in cities to experts from around the world, with the most popular questions answered across the week. Through #MyCityMyVoice, we aim to create a global community of young people to join our network and build better cities for youth. Add your voice!
Sunday, 26 June
11:10 – 12:00 – Youth Assembly Panel Discussion and Signing Ceremony
The Youth Assembly will commence an engaging discussion involving Maimunah Mohd Sharif, Executive Director of UN-Habitat, Michel Zuluaga of our partner Despacio, our CEO Stefan Germann, and others coming together to discuss digital innovation and frontier technologies, including AI for sustainable urban development.
17.30-18.00 – Launch of global DeclarACTION
Join our partners UN-Habitat for the launch of their initiative calling for youth to make a global DeclarACTION: a pledge for action relating to the SDGs – during the Youth Assembly.
Monday, 27 June
12.30 – 13.00 – Youth Zone Opening Ceremony
Make sure to visit the Youth Zone, an interactive space for youth to network and connect. Meet young people who participate in our Fondation Botnar programs.
Youth Zone sessions
Join exciting sessions at the Youth Zone, supported by Fondation Botnar, including a Youth 2030 Cities session on Building a Community of Practice (13:30 – 15:00) and a Minecraft demo (15:00 – 17:30).
16:00 – 17:30 – Networking session: From local to global: youth participation in implementing SDGs
The Healthy Cities for Adolescent program promotes young people as important contributors and equal partners in creating sustainable solutions for their respective growing cities, with the aim of deepening knowledge about health and wellbeing issues and solutions. This roundtable brings together our Chief Program Officer, Susanna Hausmann and representatives from the program, as well as our partners Despacio, to discuss how young people can be involved in creating solutions to issues created by rapid urbanisation.
Wednesday, 29 June
13:30 – 15:30 – “Localizing the SDGs: Transformative partnerships to accelerate the achievement of the Global Goals at the local level”
Join an engaging session where our CEO Stefan Germann will discuss how to prioritise young people’s participation and leadership in achieving the SDGs.
16.00 – 18.00 – Collaboration and philanthropy for better cities
Join our CEO, Stefan Germann at this roundtable to discuss how philanthropy can unleash the power of collective action for equitable giving, and innovation, as well as deepen support and strengthen relationships with communities to build inclusive safe resilient cities for all.
Launch of Young Gamechangers Initiative
Together with UN-Habitat, WHO and Block by Block Foundation, we are launching our new Young Gamechangers Initiative (YGI). The three-year project will focus on intermediary cities in Senegal, India, and Colombia to improve the urban health and wellbeing of young people through their active engagement in urban governance, and the design of inclusive public spaces and digital engagement. Read more about the Young Gamechangers Initiative here.
Launch of TYPCities – call for proposals
Visit the Fondation Botnar booth during WUF11 to learn about our new research call: TYPCities. TYPCities will generate original research on the possibilities and pitfalls of technology-enabled youth participation in the governance of intermediary cities in low and middle-income countries (LMICs) and will aim to produce empirical insights and analytical findings into the role of various technologies in shaping youth engagement in urban governance.
Our partners
Our partners will also participate in a range of sessions during WUF11.
Wednesday, 29 June, 16.30-18.00 – Using Technology and Data for Liveable Cities
Dr Kalpana Vishwanath, CEO of Safetipin, a Fondation Botnar Fit4Future partner, will be joined by other experts to discuss using technology and data for livable cities during a networking event hosted by Think City, Malaysia.
29 June, 16.00-18.00 – Roundtable: Children and Youth Assembly
Joyati Das, Director of Healthy Cities for Adolescents, will participate in a roundtable discussion around children and youth bringing her experience and expertise leading the Evidence to Action (E2A) framework.
About Youth2030
Youth2030 Cities, a project supported by UN-Habitat in partnership with Fondation Botnar’s Healthy Cities for Adolescents Program (HCA), seeks to strengthen youth action through increasing young people’s capacity to engage at the local level.
Working with youth in six countries (Ghana, Senegal, Ecuador, Colombia, India, and Vietnam), the partners are undertaking training and developing tools to identify and facilitate activities related to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).