The G20/U20 Webinars series is organised by Luiss as academic partner of the City of Rome for the U20. The series, organised in collaboration with the UCLG network, aims at creating a space of multistakeholder confrontation to generate an inclusive understanding of the challenges that the G20 will have to address and the role that Cities can have in tackling these challenges.
Following this rationale, the webinars are inspired by the three priorities of the G20/U20 summit: People, Prosperity and Planet.
People
We are facing an health, economic and social crisis without precedents due to the Covid#19 pandemic. The G20 is required to take action in promoting a better future for the entire global society. In doing this it becomes crucial to focus on a sustainable, just, inclusive and resilient recovery, once the health and economic crisis has been taken care of. To achieve this goal, the G20 is aware of the necessity to implement actions entered on people. Among these actions, and in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), we find: eradicating poverty, tackling inequality, protecting the most vulnerable, promoting women-s empowerment, ensuring universal access to education, redistributing opportunities within countries and decreasing disparities between regions.
Prosperity
To achieve prosperity and a better quality of life for everyone, the G20 puts great emphasis on the digital revolution as it represents a fundamental tool to achieve these goals. However, digitalisation needs to be an opportunity for all. This entails reducing the digital divide, promoting infrastructures to ensure universal internet access, and achieving adequate and widespread digital literacy. This has a series of spillover implications on health services, data sharing, working models, energy distribution and educational activities.
Planet
The urgency of ensuring sustainability of the human presence on hearth is increasing. Therefore, the G20 has a great responsibility in leading towards concrete and lasting solutions. In defining this priority, the G20 recognises the importance of smart cities. Sustainable urbanisation, energy efficiency and improved modern mobility are core issues to address this priority as the G20 will also pave the way towards the 26th Convention on Climate Change (COP26).
The three webinars will be cantered on these priorities and and their implications for the urban framework.
Webinar #1 – People – 28/05
People-Centred Cities: towards the U20
The webinar will focus on understanding how cities can be inclusive towards their citizens. During the webinar different co-governance experiences will be presented trying to understand how to link the citizens to the multilevel governance given by the European framework where the supranational, national and local levels of governance coexist.
Webinar #2 – Prosperity – 11/06 (TBC)
Innovative Cities: what lesson from the U20?
The webinar addresses the issue of digitalisation and digital inequalities. Opening a discussion on different initiatives that with the use of technological innovation have brought benefit to human capital and local communities. The webinar tries to highlight the best practices that the U20 can use to inform the G20 about how cities actions can contribute to its third priority. The meeting will focus especially on how digitalisation can be integrated into cultural initiatives as well as into tourism policies and “people to people” interactions.
Webinar #3 – Planet – 07/06 (TBC)
Sustainable Cities challenges and opportunities for the U20
The webinar is an opportunity to highlight how necessary sustainable cities are in tackling climate change. If Planet is among the priorities of the G20, an effective action towards a more sustainable world cannot exclude cities. Informed by the preparatory works of the U20 summit, the webinar will provide a discussion on the models and practices that cities can implement to increase their impact on the environment and on a green and sustainable recovery.
