RMIT leads United Nations Cities Program
18 February 2008
RMIT University has been named the global centre for a United Nations program searching for local solutions to the social, economic and environmental problems faced by cities around the world.
RMIT’s Global Cities Institute will guide the United Nations Global Compact – Cities Programme, which works with government, business and community leaders to address the effects of rapid urbanisation.
The International Secretariat of the UNGC – Cities Programme will be based in Melbourne, under the auspices of the Institute, and in partnership with the Committee for Melbourne.
Programme Director, Professor Paul James, said the challenges faced by cities were becoming more complex as the number of people living in urban centres outnumbered those in rural areas for the first time in history.
“Every city around the world is facing its own intractable problems, which are becoming increasingly difficult to manage, let alone improve,” Professor James said.
“These are the issues that have been failed by previous governance efforts year after year – slums, transport, pollution, sanitation.
“The UNGC – Cities Programme provides a unique framework for helping cities build constructive taskforces across the key sectors of business, government and community to produce practical, local and sustainable solutions to these challenges.”
Under the program, which was an initiative of the Committee for Melbourne, cities are provided with research resources to conduct pilot projects targeting priority issues identified by their residents.
Melbourne was among the first 11 cities to sign up, with other affiliates including Berlin, San Francisco and Jinan in China.
Professor James said the program had put RMIT at the centre of a global collaborative effort to combat the problems associated with urban life.
“The UNGC – Cities Programme will act like a bridge to link the cities who are struggling with these issues to the universities and research centres who are working on them,” he said.
“For example, we’re already working with the city of Jinan in China on transport issues but we would hope to bring the expertise of transport academics and accident researchers from other universities to the project.
“Our emphasis is on engaged research, knowledge which does something for the world.
“We’re bringing together local knowledge and expert knowledge – so neither has the hubris to think that they can do it all by themselves.”
Other key members of the International Secretariat based in Melbourne include Deputy Director Caroline Bayliss, who is the Director of Global Sustainability at RMIT, and Manager Stephanie McCarthy.
