Youth 2030 Cities
Channel: UN-Habitat Youth
Date: 2022-06-13

Youth 2030 Cities is a youth-led sustainable urbanization initiative of UN-Habitat and Fondation Botnar's Healthy Cities for Adolescents (HCA) program that aims to strengthen youth voice and participation by building the capacity of young people to create sustainable cities and towns within the framework of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). 

The SDGs were adopted by the United Nations in 2015 as a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure that by 2030 all people enjoy peace and prosperity. The localization of the SDGs, meaning their achievement through local action, is a key focus of Youth 2030 and UN-Habitat as the agency responsible for urban sustainability for the UN system. 

In its pilot phase, Youth 2030 Cities is taking place in cities in six countries – Cali, Colombia; Quito and Otavalo, Ecuador; Accra, Ghana, Jaipur and Bhubaneshwar, India; Dakar and Thiès, Senegal, and Da Nang, Vietnam. The initiative is being implemented through HCA and UN-Habitat partners in each of the countries. Through research, training workshops, collection of youth promising practices, development of digital tools and youth forums, Youth 2030 Cities aims to support and empower youth to achieve sustainability within their communities. Youth DeclarACTIONs developed in each city through this process will be presented by the youth to promote intergenerational dialogue and youth-led solutions in a final global DeclarACTION at the 11th World Urban Forum in June 2022.