Press release
UNESCO introduces Culture at PreCOP25
On 9 October 2019, in the framework of the PreCop25 taking place in Costa Rica, UNESCO organized a panel discussion on ‘Cities and sustainable mobility with a focus on culture, gender, equity and inclusion in local contexts’, together with the NGOs and the 5C Citizen Advisory Council on Climate Change, and with the participation of the Vice-Minister of Culture of Costa Rica, Ms Alejandra Hernandez Sanchez.
Gillian McDaniel Wilkinson, representative of the UNESCO Creative City of Kingston (Jamaica), and Ana Maria Villa Zapata, Representative of UNESCO Creative City of Medellin (Colombia), highlighted programmes developed by their respective cities, such as the Mural Project in Kingston and the Bibliometro in Medellin, in which culture and creativity can help expand access to culture and improve transport services. They demonstrated how addressing the issues of culture and mobility within an integrated urban planning strategy opens up new perspectives for improving people's well-being and the everyday urban experience, while infusing a stronger social and cultural meaning into public spaces. They also showed how urban environment allows cultural diversity to be better represented and celebrated, which in turn fosters trust and intercultural respect. This creative vision of mobility also helps to expand access to culture for the most vulnerable or isolated communities.
This event also provided the opportunity to shed light on the importance of electric mobility towards sustainable mobility as well as the empowerment of women through bicycle transport.
As regards culture, the panel concluded to recommend to the COP25 to promote culture, creativity and efficiency as an engine for cities to stimulate the circular economy including sustainable urban mobility. The other following recommendations were also agreed upon for COP25: to explicitly introduce the leading role of local governments and civil society organizations in the expected COP25 revamping of Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) in relation to financing, nature-based solutions and citizen participation; to strengthen more efficient mobility alternatives, such as electric mobility, which contribute to decarbonize the economy and improve people's quality of life; and to empower women and vulnerable communities through active mobility, e.g. by bicycle, with a means also to open up safe and inclusive accessibility to urban public space.
This was the first time time that culture and creativity related issues were addressed within the framework of a PreCop in view of bringing a creative perspective into the development of sustainable mobility and urbanization processes in general. The theme and topic of this panel discussion responds to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 11, which targets to make cities and communities sustainable.
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