Metropolitan Governance

As the world keeps moving towards the urban and metropolitan age, several challenges have emerged alongside the road. The traditional model of growth adopted by the great majority of cities and metropolitan areas around the world happens to be unsustainable as the environmental impact that it produces threatens and harms human, animal and ecological wellbeing.     Therefore, cities and metropolitan areas hold a crucial role in the achievement of the New Urban Agenda. Sub-national governments have become key players in the difficult task of mitigating the challenges and problems that hinder development at local and regional level. Hence, the adoption of a cross-cutting and holistic approach within the metropolitan governance agenda, as well as the involvement of several stakeholders from diverse fields of the society, is a paramount condition for the achievement of SDGs.     Transversal Think Tank aims to develop and manage knowledge, build capacities and promote sustainable development governance among academia, private sector, government and civil society organizations. We believe in disciplines’ complementarily and the dissection of public problems from the root in order to develop efficient alternatives (public policy recommendations) while meeting the New Urban Agenda.     As our approach consists in connecting metropolitan governance to global challenges such as climate change, biodiversity, food security and the new green economy, our side event intends to answer through a comprehensive approach the following questions: what innovative measures and governance mechanisms, in metropolitan contexts, can promote more nutritious food systems, reduce rural poverty, mitigate green house emissions and achieve urban sustainable development? How to improve biodiversity, resilience and salient livelihoods? How can policy, legal and institutional reforms promote healthier and more sustainable habitats for urban and rural communities?