7th UCLG ASPAC Congress

The 7th UCLG ASPAC Congress: Leveraging Local Innovation for Sustainable City Development

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United commitment of city leaders in the Opening Session of 7 UCLG ASPAC Congress.

BECOMING the united voice and advocate of democratic local self-government, UCLG ASPAC has put, among many, the development of city, particularly its economic, social, cultural, vocational, and environmental development as driving force of its activity. Amidst the many translations of this mission, UCLG ASPAC made good use of its 7th Congress by providing platform for cooperation and advocating city leaders on the importance of “Innovation Driven Development for Sustainable Cities”, theme taken for congress discussion held in Surabaya, 12-15 September 2018. Hosted by Surabaya City Government, the congress was attended by more than 1,200 participants, from city leaders, key urban stakeholders, and other global funding institutions. This number is recorded as the highest among previous similar event. Cultural performances and various city tours welcomed and

accompanied participants while enlightened by keynote speech and also speakers in various thematic discussion sessions.

Keynote Speakers – Endorsers of City Innovation

Mr. Ignasius Jonan, Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources highlighted the innovation for city’s sustainable development through the waste to energy point of view. He mentioned, among many, innovation for the city included the transformation of waste into electricity.

Dr. Khoo Teng Chye, Executive Director of Centre for Liveable Cities (Ministry of National Development, Singapore) shared Singapore Liveability Framework and mentioned progress cities have made, such as Bandung, Makassar, Penang, Ahmedabad, and Surabaya (winner of Lee Kuan Yew World City Prize Special Mention). He also mentioned platforms local governments could make good use of to inspire city development and importance of capacity building activity.

Advocacy through Key Issues in Plenary Session UCLG ASPAC took lead by stimulating intensive debate on four key issues in the plenary sessions, all themes selected leading the discussion to knowledge exchange on the creation of enabling environment for sustainable development: financing, multistakeholder partnership, collaborative governance, and leveraging local innovation.

Collaborative Governance for Stronger Enabling Environment In the first plenary, knowledge exchange activities covered the efforts taken by local government of Jakarta, represented by Governor Anies Rasyid Baswedan. He mentioned that Jakarta has been involving local people to find solution in renewing the urban area in the city. Moreover, Mr. Yim Geun Hyeong, representing local government of Seoul also put emphasis on the collaborative method the city has applied for enabling environment in implementing SDGs the city has localised (17 Goals with 96 Targets). In line with that, Mr. Song Jingwu, representing Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries (CPAFFC) also

mentioned the importance of collaboration to tackle the challenges faced. The tangible move conducted by cities in Cina is through the establishment of Belt and Road Local Cooperation (led by Hangzhou) and the 21st Century Maritime Cooperation (led by Fuzhou).

Leveraging for Innovation Sustainability In the second plenary, participants were also exposed to practices of innovation implemented by cities. Ms. Chen Yi Ni, representing Guangzhou, for example, highlighted the city’s initiative on establishing the Guangzhou International Award for Urban Innovation, platform for cities to present and share their city’s innovation in tackling urban issues, with reward presented to the most innovative initiatives assessed by independent panels. Other cities can also access the compilation of the submission to inspire and stimulate replication. Ms. Mika Watanabe, representing CLAIR, also mentioned the innovation conducted by city of Kyoto. Kyoto city has encouraged innovation in the city through technology development. This has driven the emergence of world class enterprises and cooperation organisation of SMEs for one-stop prototype creation services that support research and development activities of major firms. Further, Mr. Ren Yuan, Senior Manager, Alibaba Global Business Group, also explained the group’s works in China in relation to innovation.

They called it City Brain: Make City Think Smarter; which includes 50% reduction of response time of emergency vehicles (becoming 7 minutes on average) in Xiaoshan District (Hangzhou), reduction of passing time average 15.3% (4 minutes/driver/trip) in downtown Hangzhou, and 17% increase of passenger volume on trial bus route (becoming 171 passengers/day) in Suzhou. While Indonesia, represented by Ministry of National Development Planning explored the strategic approach taken by Indonesia, which is through the Presidential Decree, implemented on Ministerial Regulation. One of the innovation through partnership mentioned was collaboration between an advocacy-based organisation with Government of Yogyakarta to design underground parking lot and public toilet in Yogyakarta for disabilities.

Multistakeholder Partnership for Sustainable Local Development This is the third plenary in which participants were enriched with knowledge on city roles in establishing partnership for sustainable local development. Urbanice Malaysia exposed on the case of local governments in Malaysia, that they have encouraged to involve local developers, technical agencies, professionals, and communities to implement the efforts for city development. It also showcased its programme that puts emphasis on energy efficiency for affordable home. This institution also refreshed participants on the World Urban Forum 9 event held earlier this year and invited attendees to the upcoming Malaysian Urban Forum held from

18 to 19 February 2019 in Kuala Lumpur and the 7th Asia-Pacific Urban Forum in September 2019.

Financing for Local Development In the last plenary, participants were enlightened by practices of Sorsogon in managing their local development fund. Mayor Sally Ante Lee clearly mentioned that her leadership put emphasis on the capacity building of the government personnel in order to achieve city sustainability. That is the very reason that makes allocation of local funding development directed to staff capacity building, in addition to the development and improvement of city infrastructure. Representative from Yiwu City, Mr. Duo Jia, exposed activities taken in relation to the city’s financing efforts that include stimulating the growth of private companies for higher tax income, establishment of state-owned capital operation company to secure the maintenance and appreciation of the value of state-owned assets in addition to serving other functions, such as revitalisation strategy and building villages and to guide and leverage investment.

Other Networking and Training Sessions Breaking down the broad innovation theme, UCLG ASPAC also engaged its global partners to take part in enriching the discussion session through various Networking Events (Sanitation and Solid Waste Management, Disaster Risk Reduction Policy Consultation, Child Friendly Cities, Local Government Consultation, Transport and Mobility, The Benefits of Functional Assignment for Implementing the Agenda 2030 in a Multilevel Governance System) and Training Events (How Do I Implement SDGs in My City, Public Space Training Event, SDGs Local Workshop, IUC Training).

City Tour and Site Visits Local Government of Surabaya also immersed participants through various site visits and city tours, introducing local culture and development made by the city to all participants. Venues included Sidoarjo mud-flood site and various parks and villages (Flora Park, ‘Herbal Nginden’ Village, Bungkul Park, Sawunggaling Village, Dolly District (once Surabaya red-district), Maspati Vilage, Ketandan Village, and Siola (co-working Space).

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Presidential Election UCLG ASPAC also held election for the organisation’s Presidency position. Based on the recommendation of members, Mayor Tri Rismaharini of Surabaya was elected to hold the position for the next 2-year term (2018-2020).

UCLG ASPAC Secretariat Team congratulated Mayor Tri Rismaharini and City of Surabaya for taking the leadership position and thanked their generous welcome and great support and cooperation for the success of the 7th UCLG ASPAC Congress.