Having consulted experts from across our Union, the IUCN Urban Alliance pronounces the following imperatives and pathways for bringing the built environment into balance with nature: a rallying call for concerted global action.
(1) EDUCATE CITY SHAPERS
Foster ecological literacy among architects, engineers, planners, designers, investors, developers, policymakers and citizens.
(2) ALLY WITH CULTURE MAKERS
Partner with creatives – musicians, writers, poets and artists – to reach the scale of audience required to bring about ‘whole of society’ transformative change.
(3) EMPOWER COMMUNITIES
Adopt participatory planning, co-design and other forms of deliberative democracy to give expression to popular demand for urban nature.
(4) ADOPT A RIGHTS-BASED APPROACH
Advance the human right to a clean, safe, sustainable and wildlife-rich environment to transform patterns of urbanisation.
(5) FIX MARKET FAILURE
Address environmental shortcomings of the free market with targeted policies (e.g., urban planning and zoning) and market-based instruments (e.g., taxes and subsidies).
(6) SHARE KNOWLEDGE LIBERALLY
Collate and disseminate urban insights, experiences and lessons through knowledge sharing platforms to inspire and inform the replication and scaling of best practices.
(7) MEASURE PROGRESS
Employ tools to evaluate the impacts of cities on nature, set science-based targets for improvement and measure progress accordingly.
