Government signs memorandum with UN to apply sustainable urban-planning model in Catalonia

The Catalan government wants urban development in Catalonia to be sustainable. This is the aim of a memorandum of understanding it has signed with UN-Habitat to move forward with the Catalan Urban Agenda and begin establishing urban-planning policies to be developed over the coming years. All of these policies fall under the New Urban Agenda approved at the Habitat III Conference in Quito Ecuador in October 2016.

As the first step for laying out the Catalan Urban Agenda, the Catalan government will call an assembly of all the stakeholders involved (institutions, social agents and residents) to start discussing specific strategic plans and public policies to develop and compile a first draft of goals.

While it hasn’t specified the exact Catalan Urban Agenda, the Government of Catalonia expects to work on laws on climate change, architecture and territory, as well as working on waste and wastewater management, and incorporating sustainability into all of these policies. Both the Government of Catalonia and UN-Habitat agree on the benefits of supporting Catalonia by transferring knowledge and experience in urban planning and development.

The cooperation actions and projects to be carried out in the areas each institution is responsible for will focus especially on urban resilience. The work will encompass urban policy, sustainable development, territory and planning, adapting to climate change, managing water and other natural resources, waste management, and urban public transport and sustainable mobility.