The independent Swedish think tank Global Utmaning hosted the first regional post-Habitat III conference in mid-December in collaboration with the United Nations Human Settlement Programme (UN-Habitat) and the Swedish National Centre for Architecture and Design (Arkdes). The meeting, which was attended by several Nordic government ministers and mayors and over 400 senior civil servants, researchers, private sector and civil society representatives, resulted in the Nordic Declaration on the Implementation of the New Urban Agenda.

The declaration makes clear that sustainable urban development as outlined in the New Urban Agenda is essential to achieving the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Emphasising the need for political leadership and a flexible multi-stakeholder and multi-sectoral approach, it sets out six fundamental principles of sustainable urban development: civic participation, protecting the environment, ensuring socio-economic well-being, providing a variety of housing options, ensuring adequate mobility, and promoting diversity.

For Global Utmaning, it is clear that cities – rather than nations – have the answers to sustainable development as they provide the platform for economic, social and environmental development. “The global agenda is, quite simply, local”, writes the thank tank. The goal of the declaration is therefore to create a tool for implementing the New Urban Agenda and the SDGs as well as a platform for sharing the Nordic experience with the rest of the world.