The Innovate4Cities Conference will be an international gathering at the nexus of cities, climate change science and innovation. This groundbreaking meeting will be co-hosted by UN-Habitat and the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy (GCoM). It will bring together over 1,000 city leaders, scientists, researchers, innovators, academics, youth and business people to advance pragmatic and action oriented research and science that will help cities reduce their carbon footprint and increase resilience to climate change.

Conference themes

The conference program is built around the core themes of the Global Research and Action Agenda on Cities and Climate Change Science (GRAA) developed in Edmonton in 2018. There have been many developments in the urban sustainability agenda since Edmonton, in particular COVID-19 has transformed cities, widening existing inequalities, plunged new actors into financial hardship and exposed new vulnerabilities. When we rebuild cities in the aftermath of the coronavirus pandemic we must ensure that the green recovery is inclusive and provides co-benefits, such as improving health outcomes, promoting economic development, delivering jobs and addressing gender and racial inequities. In light of these developments, Justice & Equity, Health & Wellbeing and Digitalisation/Smart Cities have been added as cross-cutting themes for the conference and will be actively considered in the GRAA review process that will take place before, during and after the conference.

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