The New Urban Agenda in the Global South: Engaging Research in Policy Making

On the eve of the adoption of a global new urban agenda (NUA), it is critical to find new ways to empower urban policy makers and other stakeholders through access to current research from established knowledge institutions and networks. With rapid urbanisation and the pressures of globalisation being felt now more than ever in cities of the global south, applied urban research networks are well placed to offer data, analysis and recommendations that could strengthen policy responses to pressing housing and service delivery problems. This event will bring together research networks from different regions to share experiences and debate how to better engage with the policy makers, ministers, local governments and practitioners in general. With the support of Cities Alliance, three networks dedicated to sustainability challenges in the global south are joining forces to host this event – the African Urban Research Initiative (AURI), the Network Association of European Researchers on Urbanization in the South (N-AERUS) and the Network of Sustainable Urban Development Study Centres in Latin America and the Caribbean (REDEUS_LAC)– to bring together Ministers, Mayors, civil society organisations, urban practitioners and academic researchers to engage in dialogue on ways to improve access to and translation of urban research to enhance policy formulation.