I.Metshin: “Cities with a high standard of living, comfortable housing, convenient infrastructure and good ecology are what we committed to”

UCLG can play an important role in attracting financial resources to the cities. For example, from the largest world unions, including BRICS, SCO, EurAsEC and many others. This was stated today by the President of UCLG - Eurasia, mayor of Kazan Ilsur Metshin at the Assembly on Resilience, Urbanization and Heritage, which was held in the framework of the VI UCLG Congress in Durban, South Africa. More than 70 participants represent the Eurasian branch of UCLG at the Congress. Among them are representatives of the Russian cities-Moscow, Kazan, Kaliningrad and others, as well as cities of Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Moldova, Abkhazia.

For 63 years – from 1926 to 1989 – the population of the capitals grew 10 times

As Ilsur Metshin noted in his report, today more than half of humanity lives in cities. “It is expected that by 2050 two thirds of the world's population will live in the cities. In total, the Eurasian region consists of 2182 cities, half of them are in Russia. The urban population of Eurasia is approximately 192 million 650 thousand people. According to the 2018 urban population index of the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, high level of urbanization is observed in Russia and Belarus. An average level of urbanization is in Armenia, Ukraine, Mongolia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan. And only one country – Tajikistan shows a low level of urbanization,” I. Metshin said.

Highlighting the change in the population of the capitals of the Eurasian region over the last century, he noted the growth that occurred in the period from 1926 to 1989. Thus, in Dushanbe during these 63 years, the population has grown 105 times, and in other capitals – on average of 10 times. Later, the pace of urbanization decreased, and the population of the capitals grew by an average of one and a half times. At the same time, the lowest rate of population growth is in Baku and Tbilisi, and the highest – in Ulaanbaatar and Ashgabat. The same situation has been observed in Kazan – from 1926 to 1989 the population grew 6 times, and over the past 30 years-only 14%.

However, as the speaker stressed, despite the individual peculiarities of the countries, it is possible to identify common problems of urbanization. Thus, the main reason for it in Eurasia is the job shortage and low wages in rural areas. This leads to the problem of poor quality of services in rural areas, and even to the point that residents have to cover a long distance for the medical care.

The development of small towns will improve the quality of life and create jobs

“Another problem of urbanization is uneven population growth in different cities. If in the whole country the urban population is growing, then, as a rule, this indicates the growth of the population in large cities. For example, in Kazakhstan the population moves from Karaganda to the capital city– Nur-Sultan. In this situation, he considers to develop small towns, improve their quality of life and create jobs. Ilsur Metshin used as an example Budyonnovsk, a city of the Stavropol territory of Russia. To solve the problem of population flow to the cities, a large gas chemical complex for processing gas from the fields of the Northern Caspian Sea was established. “There is a solution to the problem, and it is individual for each city – one city needs to develop tourism, the other can become an important transport hub or industrial center,” the speaker said.

Ilsur Metshin stressed that all these problems can be solved with a serious attitude to the sustainable development goal № 11 – “Sustainable cities and settlements”. “Cities with a high standard of living, comfortable housing, convenient infrastructure and good ecology are what we committed to. The cities of Eurasia are implementing many projects on the way to sustainable development,” he said.

“We preserve and create a legacy for the future generations”

To improve the environmental situation, we make a landscaping of cities, develop parks, cities buy a new eco-system transport with a low level of emission, a separate waste collection is implemented. Special economic zones are being created to promote small business and the development of small towns. This makes possible to redistribute urbanization towards small towns and increase their economic importance.

“We preserve and create a legacy for the future generations. We save our cities from the threat of climate canary. We bring peace and security to people. We are cities and we work for the well-being of people!”- said the mayor of Kazan.

“UCLG can play an important role in attracting financial resources to the cities”

Urbanization causes many problems, all of them are different in Eurasia and the Asia-Pacific region, Ilsur Metshin noted. However, in both regions, new challenges require new investments. “UCLG can play an important role in attracting financial resources to the cities. For example, from the largest world unions, which include BRICS, SCO, EurAsEC and many others,” I. Metshin said.

The Eurasian and Asia-Pacific regions have good-neighborly relations with a centuries-old history, cooperation is growing today, including municipal cooperation, noted the President of the Eurasian branch. He recalled that a cooperation agreement was signed between the offices, joint activities are carried out in its framework. “Our regions are part of a single Great Eurasia and support each other in the international arena. And our friendship and solidarity should continue for many years and bring prosperity to people,” the speaker concluded.

The VI UCLG Congress takes place in Durban, South Africa, on November 11-15.