World Metropolitan Day

To mark the anniversary of the Montréal Declaration on Metropolitan Areas (2015), on October 7th, we commemorate the World Metropolitan Day. Every year, on that date, we observe the metropolitan nature of many territories worldwide. For those spaces, where greatest transformations happen, affecting at least a third part of the global population and the 60% of world’s urban residents1, we promote cooperation to achieve sustainable and integrative territorial development. 

World Metropolitan Day 2020

More than ever, this year it has been made visible how metropolitan spaces are complex and fragile at the same time. The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic is having - and will have - consequences on all dimensions of life in our metropolises, but it is also triggering opportunities to rethink the role of metropolitan governance in emergency situations like that one.

COVID-19 affected people living in urban agglomerations with no relation to the jurisdictional and municipal boundaries, making those borders even more visible... Are world’s metropolises ready to face these scenarios?

In this context, the #WorldMetropolitanDay2020 provides the occasion to discuss the challenges and opportunities that metropolises’ governments have in addressing the world's premier crisis and respond to the Decade of Action to deliver the Global Goals. Each participant will focus its World Metropolitan Day 2020 virtual event on one or more Sustainable Development Goal(s), framing them in the current emergency context.

World Metropolitan Day 2020 goes virtual

Metropolis & UN-Habitat invite all metropolitan governments and interested institutions worldwide to shine a light on all initiatives aimed at accelerating a positive transformation of urban realities as a response to the COVID-19 emergency and the Decade of Action to deliver the Global Goals.

So far, more than 20 metropolises and institutions will celebrate World Metropolitan Day by organizing online events. and the campaign will culminate in a World Metropolitan Day 2020 Virtual Event co-hosted by Metropolis and UN-Habitat when participants of the campaign will have the opportunity to showcase their initiatives, exchanging knowledge and ideas with peers.

Can’t hold a virtual event this year? There are plenty of ways you can still get involved. More info on our World Metropolitan Day 2020 GUIDE!

Click to read more here

Register for the Metropolis and UN-Habitat's virtual event

Check all the events by clicking here

How to engage? We are happy to help you with that, we suggest you to:

1) Retweet: https://twitter.com/metropolis_org/status/1311213875854012416

2) Use/modify some of the tweets and materials we suggest you in the attached document

3) Join the conversation in Twitter through #WorldMetropolitanDay2020