Rio de Janeiro, Brasil, 23/02/2015 - The Urban Prosperity Index initiative will assess 130 cities in Mexico. The work will help cities to achieve a thriving urban future in economic, social, political and environmental terms. The announcement was made by the Representative of UN-Habitat in Mexico, Erik Vittrup, at an event at the Chamber of Commerce in Mexico City late February.
To measure the Urban Prosperity Index, UN-Habitat will work closely with the Ministry of Agricultural, Territorial and Urban Development (Sedatu), the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI), National Council for Science and Technology (CONACYT) and 36 urban observatories that exist in the country among other municipal institutes. "We will make a report and recommendations to prioritize public investment and national urban development policies" said Vittrup, which projects the delivery of work by the end of 2015.
Last year, this initiative was carried out in 25 cities in Colombia and this year, it is scheduled to take place in further Latin American countries such as Panama, Ecuador, Brazil and Cuba. 300 cities in the region will be analyzed in total. The Urban Prosperity Index initiative is also scheduled in over 200 cities in other regions of the world such as Africa. UN-Habitat carries out these investigations in all countries asking for this assessment, as is the case with Mexico.
Read more about this initiative (in Spanish):