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Anti-homeless sentiment is sweeping across Europe, and it could have the opposite effect of what it desires. Since the financial crisis of the late 2000's, unemployment has been on a steady rise in Europe, forcing many people to make their home on streets, more often than not in cities. But these city streets are hostile environments, largely because city and local governments are becoming more and more anti-homeless as they try to make their city centers as attractive as they can be. In parts of Britain, local authorities have banned begging and sleeping in tents; begging is already illegal in Denmark, Greece and Romania; in Hungary, homelessness in and of itself is a crime. But these harsh measures against homelessness are forcing people away from the urban centers where they can get the most support, and the farther they have to flee from city lights, the harder it will be for everyone to see how bad the homeless situation really is. And the less attention paid to the plight of homelessness, the worse it will get.

On 21 and 22 January 2018, European Ministers of Culture met in Davos, Switzerland, during the World Economic Forum to adopt a Declaration promoting the concept of a high-quality Baukultur (the concept of a built environment) in Europe, a move that is being celebrated as a 'step forward' for the way urban heritage is represented on UNESCO's World Heritage List. The Declaration specifies guidelines to protect urban heritage through emphasizing culture, and 'promotes an integrated approach to the urban environment, emphasizing the importance of cultural diversity and of traditional knowledge, and addressing historic layers of a city together with contemporary development.' These points are especially important today, as over 40% of sites on the UNESCO World Heritage List are urban.

Learn more  here. Read the full text of the Declaration here.

Bloomberg Philanthropies, headed by former mayor of New York and self-confessed data obsessive Michael Bloomberg, has named the inaugural group of nine U.S. cities that have been awarded the foundation's What Works Cities Certification. The certification is awarded to cities that are showing the most promise in using data to improve resident's lives, and rests on factors like 'whether it maintains a dedicated staff for tracking progress with data, whether its meetings are focused on numbers, whether its key datasets are open to the public, and whether it is transparent about its goals and progress.' Out of more than 180 applicants, the nine cities chosen for the inaugural group are Boston, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Louisville, New Orleans, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington, D.C., all of which will be receiving ongoing training from the What Works Cities initiative on how to properly harness the power of data to make their cities great. What data can do to help improve cities is especially relevant to IHC Global, as we are launching our Smart City Just City campaign, a campaign to develop a policy framework to advance technology-oriented urban development to make cities more equitable, at the World Urban Forum. IHC Global looks forward to seeing what these cities will do to make their cities as inclusive and sustainable as they are smart.

Read more here.

The World Bank is gearing up for its plans at the World Urban Forum, where it will be focusing on three issues that are essential to implementing the New Urban Agenda and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals:

1. Financing the New Urban Agenda: how to meet the $4.5-5.4 trillion target that is needed to fill the global urban infrastructure gap, through strengthening cities municipal finances, inter-governmental fiscal transfer systems, creditworthiness and more.
2. Promoting territorial and spatial development: understand how important territorial and spatial development is to creating better cities and enhancing linkages between cities.
3. Enhancing urban resilience: highlighting the critical role that cities play in the fight against climate change and in developing global disaster resilience.

Read the full article  here .

Take our Making Cities Safe survey

IHC Global has created a survey to increase understanding and share knowledge around issues of safety in cities-looking specifically at safety in the home, on public transport, in formal and informal workplace settings, and in common spaces such as sanitary facilities. Results from this survey will provide input into a policy report addressing how SDG 11, Target 7, Indicator 2-which focuses specifically on making urban spaces safe--can be met.

Help us gain a better understanding of urban safety; take our survey  here!