VIENNA, 11 October 2024 – More than 700 urban stakeholders from over 100 countries around the world delved into sustainable urban future at the 3-day Bridge for Cities event – a flagship event by UNIDO organized under the theme of “Innovative Solutions for the Cities of Tomorrow”, with support of China, at the Vienna International Centre from 9 to 11 October.

The Opening Ceremony featured addresses from five keynote speakers. Mr. Gerd Müller, Director General of UNIDO, appreciated the valuable partnerships with the Government of China, the City of Vienna, and many others to present the flagship event Bridge for Cities. He reiterated the necessity of innovative, concrete solutions in response to the rapidly evolving urbanization worldwide, and reaffirmed UNIDO’s role in technical cooperation, knowledge sharing, and capacity building to empower cities to navigate through challenges, maximize opportunities, and transition to a sustainable future.

His Excellency Mr. Li Song, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of China to UNIDO and other Vienna-based international organizations, noted that cities as key engines driving economic growth need new development concepts and paths for a more liveable and resilient future. Bridge for Cities has built an open platform for communication and collaboration for the sustainable growth of cities, and is supposed to continuously contribute to North-South exchanges, South-South cooperation, and the modernization of the Global South. China stands ready to offer experience and promote common development.

The CEO of EIT Climate-KIC Ms. Kirsten Dunlop shared her visions and the organization’s commitments to delivering on a green, vibrant, inclusive and smart urban future, calling for holistic thinking, multilevel governance, efficient resource allocation, and innovative actions in pursuit of sustainable cities.

The Deputy Executive Director of UN-Habitat Mr. Michal Mlynár, representing the Secretary-General of the United Nations Mr. António Guterres, presented a global view over the urbanization wave, highlighting the significance of such state-of-the-art platforms as Bridge for Cities of UNIDO and World Urban Forum of UN-Habitat to realize a promising urban future.

The President of the Vienna Provincial Parliament Mr. Ernst Woller, stressed that Vienna – the co-organizer of the event – is a highly liveable and internationalized city, which hosts people from various cultural backgrounds and a great number of international organizations. Bridge for Cities has grown into an influential event on urbanization in global contexts, catalyzing multilateral dialogues, innovations, partnerships, and cooperation.

During the high-level Ministerial Plenary, which marked a brand new segment since the event’s inception, a total of 6 ministers and deputy ministers from Egypt, Qatar, Côte d'Ivoire, Panama, Philippines, and Tanzania elaborated on national-level urban development policies to address challenges and maximize opportunities in the ongoing wave of urbanization. Their interventions shed light on the national governments’ endeavors to green the process of urbanization and industrialization, enhance climate resilience in urban areas, improve citizens’ living standards and wellbeing, forge innovations and partnerships, and secure robust urban financing.

Dedicated to local-setting discussion, two sessions of Mayors Dialogue on the second day gathered 10 mayors and deputy mayors from various countries and regions, who showcased their cities’ concrete actions and innovative solutions regarding the event’s five focus areas – from low-carbon solutions, transportation systems, poverty reduction, to water management and waste disposal, and governance and AI.

The event’s Case City Xi’an, China showcased its experience on low-carbon development. The Mayor Mr. Ye Niuping highlighted the city’s four-pronged approaches to green socio-economic growth – reducing coal consumptions, optimizing industrial structure, adopting NEVs, and refining policies. The city’s high-tech sector and rich culture were also featured at the event’s exhibition.

The deep-dive sessions focused on new cities development, UNIDO solutions, and urban development finance; the inspiring fireside chats revolved around the future of urbanization, the role of youth, and urban heat. These sessions contributed expert and youth insights to the event’s overall theme, and further strengthened the role of Bridge for Cities as a platform for know-how transfer, capacity upgrading, and partnership enhancement.

In addition to forum-setting segments, the event incorporated an awarding ceremony for the winning cities of UNIDO Innovation Award 2023, a study tour to the urban innovations in the City of Vienna, and an exhibition on case cities, UNIDO solutions, and youth innovations. A number of bilateral meetings between participating dignitaries and UNIDO officials were also held on the sideline of the event, in order to scale up cooperation.

Participants in this year’s event include representatives from UNIDO member states, international organizations, development finance institutions, private sector, non-governmental organizations, academia, and media, among others. The event was organized with the consistent strong support from the Government of China, and in partnership with the City of Vienna, UN-Habitat, Institute for Future Cities of the University of Strathclyde, Eurocities, C40 Cities, AIG, AIESEC, and Impact Hub Vienna.

To consolidate the status of Bridge for Cities as a year-round initiative, two side events were staged in Xi’an, China, and Jakarta, Indonesia in May and August respectively, to discuss the opportunities and solutions for existing and emerging cities. Following the main event, another side session will be organized at the UN-Habitat’s upcoming 12th World Urban Forum in Cairo, Egypt in November.

Since the inception in 2016, the Bridge for Cities has grown into an influential initiative and event of UNIDO with global reach, and has been dedicated to providing an open and inclusive platform for urban officials and stakeholders worldwide to share success stories and challenges, identify replicable solutions, unleash the potential for multilateral collaboration, and ultimately upscale the sustainable development capacities of cities.

For more information about the Bridge for Cities and to access the event documents, please visit the Knowledge Platform: www.bridgeforcities.org.