A series of 162 networking and training events will take place during the Third Session of the World Urban Forum (WUF3). These events will provide more informal opportunities for WUF3 participants to increase their knowledge about urban sustainability, strengthen partnerships with others who hold similar perspectives, and share ideas on best practices that might work in their own cities.
These events will take place in smaller venues (generally limited to 75 or 150 participants), in settings that make it easier for person-to-person interactions.
Each networking event will be organized by a lead sponsor, often in partnership with other groups that share similar interests or values. Event organizers include local or regional governments, slum dweller associations, schools and universities, aboriginal groups, youth assemblies, business associations, multi-national corporations, local or international financial institutions, church and women’s groups, etc.
The list seems endless, but the thread that ties them all together is a shared passion to improve the lives of city dwellers everywhere.
The topics to be covered in these networking events are as diverse and varied as the organizations sponsoring them. Issues that will be discussed include urban planning and management, city growth and the environment, municipal finance, safety and security, slum upgrading, aboriginal and women's issues, youth concerns, access to clean water, etc.
At WUF3 we’re trying to focus on turning ideas into actions. I firmly believe that this will only happen when people have the opportunity to learn from each other and the means to maintain their relationships on an on-going basis.
The networking events at WUF3 not only will promote the person-to-person information exchange, they will also help forge support networks that will span the globe, enabling people who otherwise might never have met to work in common cause to overcome the problems of urbanization or to pursue opportunities to change the world.
Relationships forged in Vancouver will continue long after everyone has returned to their own cities and towns. This will be one of the most important and lasting benefits of WUF3.
I can attest from personal experience that relationships established in 1976 at the first UN Conference on Human Settlements profoundly shaped my life and helped bring me to this point today as Commissioner General for the Third World Urban Forum.
Who knows what will happen over the next thirty years as a result of the bonds that will be established at WUF3. I believe they will change the world as we know it - clearly for the better.
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