How can cities benefit from national urban policies to drive low-carbon and resilient urban development?

It is being acknowledged that cities are responsible for a resilient and low carbon urban development. On the one hand cities contribute significantly to climate change, on the other hand they are especially prone to the adverse effects of climate change. In order to support cities as actors of sustainable development, states should be encouraged to incorporate effective mitigation and adaptation strategies into their national urban development policies. This should serve to guide and provide capacity support to cities to formulate and realize appropriate climate sensitive urban planning, management and governance strategies that enable integrated climate change responses at local level. Therefore the benefits of properly planned and managed urbanisation and urban development can be maximised, tackling global challenges like climate change at local and national level. A national urban policy complements and reinforces local urban policies, by creating incentives, elaborating programmes, and providing or easing access to funding for cities. This networking event will offer a space for policymakers responsible for urban policy and city-level urban climate practitioners to interact with and learn from representatives from other countries that have experiences in addressing climate change as an urban governance and development theme at national and city policy levels. This networking event will be structured as an interactive dialogue between national governments as well as cities, from Germany, South Africa and Chile to explore opportunities and lessons learned with regard to the positioning of climate change within national urban policies.