A two-day Special Symposium on Cities and the Sustainable Development Agenda, co-hosted by the Pontifical Academy of Sciences and the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network, took place at the Vatican on 21 and 22 July 2015.
The event featured a special address by Pope Francis and keynote remarks by Chancellor of the Pontifical Academy Bishop Marcelo Sanchez Sorondo, Director of the SDSN and CIRSD Board member Jeffrey Sachs, California Governor Jerry Brown, Mayor of New York City Bill de Blasio, and Mayor of Rome Ignazio Marino.
CIRSD President Vuk Jeremic led the conference's concluding panel, which also featured addresses by the mayors of San Francisco and New Orleans, amongst others.
In his remarks, Jeremic underlined the fact that the implementation of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), expected to be adopted in the UN General Assembly in September 2015, will largely take place in the world's cities, requiring local, national, and international leaders to work even more closely together. "Already today, 50 percent of the world's 7 billion people live in cities; by 2050, this is expected to rise to around 70 percent. At present, 75 percent of the world's economic activity takes place in urban areas, and that number will continue to grow in the decades to come. Cities are global hubs of creativity and innovation, but also voracious consumers of energy and places of increasing inequality. Making sure local governments work hand in hand with national governments and the United Nations on implementing the SDGs will be critical," Jeremic said.
