Guadalajara, 10 December 2015-- About 30 international experts last week participated in a Global Experts Group Meeting (EGM) “The Role of Metropolitan Development in Supporting the New Urban Agenda”, in Guadalajara (Mexico). The participants included representatives of international development agencies, policy makers, academic, national and metropolitan government representatives, and the private sector representatives from all over the World.

The meeting was organized by UN-Habitat, in collaboration with the Andalusian Agency of International Cooperation for Development, the Ministry of Development and Housing of the Government of Andalusia, the Mexican Chamber of the Construction Industry and the Government of the State of Jalisco. The EGM reviewed and built on the results and lessons learned from the experiences of the speakers to strengthen the role of UN-Habitat to better define its role, focus and impact in supporting sustainable development and metropolitan management. This EGM is the result of the recognition of the benefits associated with sustainable urbanisation.

David Gómez Álvarez, the Under Secretary of Planning of Jalisco, on behalf of the stated that “We thank UN-Habitat for organizing this Expert Group meeting that is important to Mexico given the rapid urbanization process that is currently occurring, including in Guadalajara metropolitan area. The knowledge generated from this EGM will significantly contribute to improvement of metropolitan areas in Mexico and around the World.” UN-Habitat representative in Mexico, Erik Vittrup thanked the participants for their valuable inputs and said that this would contribute to the development of the New Urban Agenda, and the Habitat III conference in Quito, Ecuador, from 17 – 20 October, 2016. Marco Kamiya, Leader, Urban Economy and City Finance Unit, UN-Habitat stated that “Metropolitan areas have to devise innovative ways of generating revenue to finance infrastructure projects, including leveraging on land and property taxation.”

The participants made several recommendations as an outcome of the EGM to support the strengthening metropolitan development. The findings and conclusions of the EGM will serve as a basis for collecting trends, policies, tools, innovations and good practices that can be promoted by UN-Habitat and other organizations focused on understanding the role of metropolitan development in preparation of the New Urban Agenda to be drawn at the Third United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development (Habitat III) next year in Quito, Ecuador. This meeting will contribute to develop a "road map" for the development of an agenda of UN-Habitat on metropolitan areas to promote more productive and resilient cities.

Download the Metropolitan Development Communique here.