New report from World Economic Forum

UNESCO launches Water Information Network System

RPA launches design competition

Gentrification in Washington D.C.

Solid Ground Campaign at Habitat on the Hill

In the news and around the web

The World Economic Forum has released its newest report, Harnessing Public-Private Cooperation to Deliver the New Urban Agenda. The report was prepared in collaboration with PwC, and and contains forewords from government, private sector and civil society actors alike. It features best practice cases from around the world, and emphasizes that the future of cities largely depends on the way urbanization is managed and public-private collaboration is leveraged to implement the Habitat III New Urban Agenda and advance sustainable urban development.  IHC Global is pleased to see the WEF embrace these tenets as they are central to IHC Global's view and advocacy agenda.

Read the full report here.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization's International Hydrological Program launched its Water Information Network System on January 31st. Called UNESCO-IHP-WINS for short, it aims to provide UNESCO member states and other stakeholders with an open source, open access web platform and a global reference on water-related issues. The platform draws its information from a variety of sources, including the WHO/UNICEF joint monitoring program AQUASTAT, the UN Statistics Division and other UNESCO partners. This system is another great example of creating a database of information that can be tailored to meet a country's specific needs, especially when it comes to the vastly different approaches needed in urban and rural areas. 

Learn more about the system here.

The Regional Plan Association has launched a design competition in order to test how their policy prescriptions will take shape on the ground. In collaboration with Guy Nordenson and Paul Lewis of Princeton University and Catherine Seavitt of City College of New York, the competition is designed for architects, designers and planners to demonstrate visually how policy changes, new investments and changing patterns of growth could transform different areas of the New York metropolitan region. It is a part of the RPA's fourth regional plan, A Region Transformed, which is a vision for the tri-state region that will be released later this year. IHC Global sees this competition as an opportunity for urban planners to showcase their best practices and most innovative ideas to help shape cities and communities in intentional ways.  In turn some practices as well as the concept itself can be adapted to other urban areas and ensure more equity and sustainability.

Information on the competition can be found  here.

For a local view, NPR takes a look at a rapidly gentrifying D.C. neighborhood, where old often clashes with new. Shaw, a neighborhood north of the White House, has been home to a tight-knit community for decades, but with gentrification becoming the trend in many D.C. neighborhoods, and and increasing amount of people moving in to places they never would've before, some residents are starting to feel like outsiders in their own stomping grounds. Washington D.C. is facing some of the most intense pressure on housing in the country, and it shows in the fact that even the areas with high concentrations of poverty and crime are being eyed by developers. While gentrification can make a positive impact on communities, IHC Global feels that the negative ramifications must be taken into account.

Read the full article  here.

• UN-Habitat Youth leader Hung Vo says it's time for Alter-Urbanization here.

• Tom Dalessio writes about the power of global cities in a new political era here.

• With a different perspective from the NextCity article, the divide between American cities and its rural communities is coming to a head. Learn more here.

• Cities and states are becoming increasingly powerful across the world stage. Find out more here.

• Common Underground: filmmaker Hervé Cohen travels to more than a dozen cities around the world looking for powerful stories from subway commuters. Check it out here.

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