UN and RMIT strengthen urban sustainability program

The United Nations Global Compact Cities Programme has received a renewed commitment and investment from RMIT University, which is providing $5 million to the program over five years. The program is the urban component of the Global Compact, which is dedicated to the promotion and adoption by cities of 10 principles on human rights, labour, environment and anti-corruption.

The new agreement with RMIT - host of the Cities Programme secretariat in Melbourne - includes additional financial and human resources by the university, aimed at scaling up efforts to tackle urban challenges around the world. The program aims to expand into the Asia-Pacific and double the number of signatory cities, which currently includes 86 cities around the world.

RMIT will invest in a Cities Development manager with expertise in Asia and appoint a range of urban specialists in resilience and adaptation; food, water and energy security; housing and poverty; governance and planning; and urban form and mobility. With the addition of these and greater collaboration with Global Compact Local Networks, the agreement will provide city participants with stronger local relationships, as well as global connectedness and better recognition.

Other aims for the Global Compact Cities Programme over the next five years include:

• deepening engagement with leader cities such as Medellin (Colombia), Porto Alegre (Brazil), Barcelona (Spain) to draw on their innovation and good practice, to inform and inspire other cities;
• assisting more signatory cities to become Global Compact city leaders that share their good practice and knowledge with other cities;
• undertaking the first major survey of all signatory cities (2014-15);
• establishing cluster networks of cities within countries and states, with new regional secretariats to build partnerships with private sector and NGOs;
• enabling cities to better compare practices and innovations, collaborate on solutions to urban development challenges, and celebrate and share their successes.

“The Global Compact believes that cities have the potential to make enormous strides in creating sustainable societies and is grateful that RMIT University has committed to drive our Cities Programme forward,” said UN Global Compact Executive Director Georg Kell.

“We have seen how cities and states can overcome complex challenges by taking an approach that considers a broad range of sustainability principles covering human rights, labour standards, environment and anti-corruption, and then working with business and civil society to find lasting solutions.”

RMIT Professor Ralph Horne has also been appointed the new director of the Cities Programme, following current director Professor Paul James’s departure from RMIT earlier in the year. Professor Horne has led more than 100 industry-linked research projects on the built environment, urban sustainability and social change since 2005. He was previously director of RMIT’s Centre for Design (2005-12) and served on the board of the Green Building Council of Australia (2010-13).

“We are grateful for the dedication of Professor Paul James in his seven years as director and are proud of his legacy, building the Cities Programme from its pilot phase into a global initiative,” said Kell. “We welcome Professor Horne’s new directorship and are confident that his expertise and leadership can move the Cities Programme into its next phase of impact and growth.”