Fifth Asia-Pacific Urban Forum

“CITIES OF OPPORTUNITY: PARTNERSHIPS FOR AN INCLUSIVE AND SUSTAINABLE FUTURE”

The multi-stakeholder Fifth Asia-Pacific Urban Forum will take place 22 - 24 June 2011 at the United Nations Conference Center (UNCC) in Bangkok, Thailand under the theme “Cities of Opportunity: Partnerships for an Inclusive and Sustainable Future”. 200 to 250 senior national and local government policy makers, NGOs and CBOs, research and training institutions, academic institutions, the private sector and international organizations are expected to participate.

OBJECTIVES

APUFs are held every 4 to 5 years providing a key regional platform for urban actors to:

• Discuss emerging and critical urban development issues from the perspectives of different stakeholders;

• Share experiences on good practices and approaches;

• Explore cooperation opportunities and links to regional and global processes and development objectives.

CONTEXT

Urban areas in Asia-Pacific are growing at an unprecedented rate and scale. How the region’s cities develop and function will shape the future of not just Asia-Pacific but the world. While the region’s cities are engines of economic growth and centers of culture and creativity, they also exhibit enormous ecological footprints, concentrations of poverty and disparities, and vulnerability to natural and man-made disasters. Shifting to inclusive and sustainable urban development therefore means environmentally sustainable economic growth, sharing the benefits in a more equitable manner to meet everyone’s basic needs, as well as enhanced resilience of cities and their populations to the broad spectrum of natural and man-made crises and disasters.

This requires adaptive and inclusive governance and a strengthened urban social fabric. It requires financing approaches that promote resource efficiency effectively. It requires strategic use of appropriate technologies and enabling institutional and regulatory frameworks and policy interventions. Implementing the inclusive and sustainable development paradigm means clearly identifying barriers to incremental and transformative change and to introduce incentives to overcome them.

REGISTRATION

Partners and Sponsors: Organizations wishing to become APUF-5 partners are expected to contribute to APUF-5 and its preparations financially and substantively, take part in the exhibition, (co-) organize and conduct break-out sessions, field visits, side events and associated meetings, promote the forum through their networks, and have an interest in incorporating APUF-5 outcomes in their work. For details on becoming and APUF-5 partner organization please visit our website.

Participants: Participation in APUF-5 is free of charge with participants expected to organize their own visa, travel, accommodation and daily expenditures, unless they are sponsored by ESCAP and partners. Interested self-financed participants are kindly requested to register at our webpage, www.unescap.org/apuf-5. Registration is necessary for access to the UNCC and provides ESCAP with an overview of the number of participants. Sponsored participants will be registered by their respective APUF-5 partner organization.

ONLINE RESOURCES

Visit our website at www.unescap.org/apuf-5 for more information. Our Twitter account @APUrbanForum provides APUF updates and other urban news from the Asia-Pacific region. The LinkedIn group ‘Asia Pacific Urban Forum’ serves as a platform for substantive discussions and networking preceding APUF-5.

Sponsor/exhibitor contact

Daphna Beerdsen
[javascript protected email address]