I.Metshin: “We want people to feel comfortable in the place where they were born, used to live and work”

Today, Ilsur Metshin, Mayor of Kazan, President of the UN Advisory Committee of Local Authorities (UNACLA), spoke at the Board of Directors meeting of the World Organization “United Cities and Local Self-Government” (UCLG) on the implementation of the New Urban Agenda. The event took place in Guangzhou.

Ilsur Metshin greeted all the participants online and noted that the New Urban Agenda is based on three key areas – social, economic and environmental. “Its goal is sustainable urban development. It can be achieved through the optimization of local and municipal legislation, which can lead to significant improvements in the lives of citizens without significant financial investments, through the improvement of the urban economy, which consists in creating high-quality jobs by means of supporting entrepreneurship, as well as through sustainable urban planning”, - he said.

The Mayor of Kazan also noted that the key issue on current agenda is the transition to new models of urban planning in conditions of active urbanization, expansion of cities and changes in the format of interaction between the metropolis and suburban areas.

As an example, he cited the capital of Tatarstan. Ilsur Metshin said that the city is located inside a ring of five districts and is the center of a complex agglomeration. Currently, Kazan is dynamically developing in the western, eastern and southern directions, and the improvement of the urban environment is achieved through an integrated approach, when issues of transport and utilities infrastructure, development and landscaping are simultaneously solved.

Each city has specific challenges and needs, but the general trend of all implemented practices is the achievement of safety, comfort, inclusion, sustainable development, the introduction of smart practices, the desire to reduce carbon emissions, development of energy-efficient technologies, as well as the creation of a compact city”, - I.Metshin said.

“Current realities contribute to the formation of new requests of residents to create a comfortable urban environment in accordance with the Sustainable Urban Development Goals declared by the UN. All our transformations and current activities focus on compliance with the principles of ESG (Environmental Social Governance), setting new standards of responsible attitude to the environment, high social responsibility and quality of management. This, of course, will require a lot of work from us to educate the population and organizations”, - the Mayor of Kazan concluded his speech.

The Mayor of Soria (Spain), UCLG Envoy for the New Urban Agenda Carlos Martinez and others also spoke at the meeting.