Harnessing Public-Private: Cooperation to Deliver the New Urban Agenda

Our cities are facing an uncertain future. The challenges of urbanisation, resource depletion and climate change mean that the world’s great cities need to adapt to survive and thrive over the coming decades. The United Nations’ New Urban Agenda and global frameworks for sustainable development provide guidance to build strategies for successful urban transformation. At the same time, new business models and emerging technologies are disrupting the development of urban infrastructure and the provision of urban services. These can be harnessed to address city challenges and achieve positive transformation.

To achieve this, city leaders and the private sector need to be engaged in an environment based on integrity and trust to encourage the private sector to commit its resources, skills and experience towards the development and operation of the efficient, liveable, resilient and prosperous cities that the world needs.

This World Economic Forum report, in which Robert Muggah, our research director, contributed, highlights the contribution of the private sector and recommends transformative actions that need to be taken by both the public and private sectors to establish the ecosystem for a collaborative and integrated way forward.

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