A MESSAGE FROM EMU-URDC DIRECTOR, PROF. DR. ŞEBNEM HOŞKARA ON THE WORLD HABITAT DAY 2023

The Director of the Center for Urban Research and Development (DAU KENT-AG) at the Eastern Mediterranean University, Prof. Dr. Şebnem Hoşkara, issued a message on the World Habitat Day 2023.  In her message, Prof. Dr. Hoşkara said:

World Habitat Day 2023: 'Resilient Urban Economies'
"With the resolution 40/202 adopted by the United Nations in 1985, World Habitat Day is celebrated annually on the first Monday of October, parallel to World Architecture Day. World Habitat Day is the beginning of "Urban October", declared by UN-Habitat (UN-HABITAT) to raise awareness of the challenges and opportunities of rapid change in our cities and towns.

Celebrated every year under a different theme to raise awareness of the right to basic shelter and remind people that they are also responsible for the living spaces of future generations, UN World Habitat Day, on 2 October 2023 (this year), focuses on the potential of cities as drivers of inclusive, green and sustainable growth in the context of 'Resilient Urban Economies'. "To meet the promise of achieving inclusive, green, and sustainable growth goals, cities must face several challenges ranging from economic shocks to increasing climate emergencies and widening inequalities," said UN Secretary-General António Guterres. Accordingly, "through the Local 2030 Coalition, the entire United Nations system is mobilizing to tackle these crises fundamentally and promote sustainable urbanization."

According to a report by the IMF) in April, 2023, has been a challenging year for urban economies. Global economic growth has dropped to about 2.5%, the weakest growth since 2001, except for the first Covid-19 crisis in 2020 and the global financial crisis in 2009. Given the size of the contribution of cities to the country's economy, the efficiency of urban areas will determine the future of many countries, as stated in the 2022 World Cities Report, published by UN-Habitat. In other words, cities are the value-generating engines that accelerate economic recovery.
For economic growth and recovery to be sustainable, we need cities that can absorb, recover, and prepare for future economic shocks. This must also be packaged under the green recovery framework that scales up private and public investments to finance the transition to a climate-neutral economy in a post-COVID world.

Moving from this point, this year's World Habitat Day; following the adverse economic shocks and conflicts of cities that cross-crossing COVID-19 on a global scale, through
-       addressing the different dimensions of the economic slowdown that it is currently experiencing and identifying actions that cities can take to accelerate economic recovery, and
-       sharing experiences between different cities on how they position themselves in the fight against inflationary pressures and other harsh global financial conditions,
aims to bring together various city stakeholders to discuss preparing for reunification.

Following the statements made by the UN Secretary-General on the theme of 'Resilient Urban Economies' on World Habitat Day and the goals of this special day, we can say that 'local zero waste initiatives' are needed in our cities to create circular economies; 'public efforts to expand green spaces' to help cool down urban areas during hot weather waves; and social actions to reduce food waste and promote local production are essential steps in transforming our food systems.

In our cities, more investment is needed in sustainable infrastructure, early warning systems, and affordable, adequate housing for all to build more resiliency for vulnerable populations. It is also essential to work more than ever to improve access to electricity, water, sanitation, transportation, and other essential services while investing in education, healthcare, skills development, digital innovation, and entrepreneurship. Besides global and regional cooperation, local actions and policies are essential for building inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable human settlements for all people.

The question to be asked at this point is: are these ideas developed globally, in the context of cities, urban spaces and urban economies; the topics discussed worldwide by contemporary urban planning; the new methods and theories produced by them; the current concepts of 'inclusiveness, sustainability, resilience, viability, urban equality and justice' etc., which arise in the face of natural and human-made disasters and the problems we encounter in our towns, very difficult to reach for the cities of Cyprus, especially in the northern part?

 WHD23_Message in Turkish