#Dato urban full#

I have learned a lot in 2019 but if asked to point out one key lesson: it will have be the involvement of all stakeholders and innovative ways thinking about development that underpins how we face urban challenges. To be more specific, the need to improve lives and ensure no one and no place is left behind. I keep telling my colleagues that people form the basis for our work. If you were to share one piece of advice that you learned in 2019, what would it be? We can now look forward to a year of impact in 2020. This year, we successfully operationalised this new governance infrastructure with the conclusion of the first UN-Habitat Assembly in May and the first Executive Board meeting in November. In my first year, my team and I were able to get the General Assembly to endorse our new governance structure, which has been 14 years in the making. Since coming to UN-Habitat, two important milestones have been achieved. The second is the planned approach to developing Batu Kawan Eco-City, which attracted several Fortune 500 Companies to locate themselves in Seberang Perai, creating jobs and improving livelihoods. One is the including of heritage and culture in the Penang State Local Plan, which laid the foundation for the listing of George Town as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. I have two projects that are close to my heart. What is even more rewarding is translating plans into reality. As a planner, the best experience is to be able to include communities in the development of state and city development plans. What is the best thing you have experienced in your career?Īs you may know, I am an urban planner by training and rose up the ranks as a civil servant before becoming Mayor in Seberang Perai and Penang Island. I will launch this exciting new programme at the World Urban Forum in February 2020, and look forward to working with many different partners all over the world to show how we can make smart cities inclusive and contribute to sustainable development. One global programme of the Strategic Plan focuses on people-centred smart cities. It also brings to life the organisation’s vision of ensuring “a better quality of life for all in an urbanising world”. The Strategic Plan charts the direction for the organisation and helps us focus on strategic programmes that will support global efforts to achieve sustainable urbanisation. This year, UN-Habitat got our Strategic Plan endorsed by the UN-Habitat Assembly in May. What has been the most exciting thing that you worked on in 2019? Over the last few years we have used this tool for participation in more than 100 projects in 35 countries and co-created public spaces with tens of thousands of people, including slum dwellers, youth and marginalised women. One UN-Habitat project I really like is Block by Block – a collaboration with Mojang Studios and Microsoft in which we use Minecraft, the world’s most popular video game, as a public participation and co-creation tool in urban design.

In Afghanistan, for example, we were able to provide technical assistance to the government to register some 1 million families so that they can have temporary occupation licenses to land. We have programmes involving waste management as well as land management, both reinvigorated recently through the application of digital technology. UN-Habitat is increasingly playing a role facilitating conversations between technology companies and local governments to ensure that technology is used as a force for good. There are still huge digital divides within and between countries and we need to ensure that new technologies do not increase inequality and negatively impact human rights.

#Dato urban full#

At the same time, local governments need to undergo digital transition, build digital skills and improve the digital literacy of their citizens in order to be able to make full use of these opportunities. It is crucial that those developing new technologies put effort into matching innovations with real use cases that improve the way that cities are planned and managed, and contribute to an improved quality of life. As we look around the world for best practices, we see opportunities for technology and innovation to make a positive contribution in cities, but many technologies that are currently being talked about – for example blockchain, digital twins and artificial intelligence – are not yet developed far enough to solve the great sustainability challenges that many of our cities are facing. How do you use technology/policy to improve citizens’ lives? Tell us about your role or organisation.Īs the Executive Director of UN-Habitat, the UN agency for sustainable cities, I am committed to finding new ways to use technologies to improve people’s lives.