WHAT ARE URBAN AGE TASK FORCES?

Developing urban solution strategies locally: With the Urban Age Task Forces, the Urban Age programme builds on successes of the past years and its grown strengths, and expands its focus. In selected cities, international experts work together with specialists from the region in an Urban Age Task Force. The aim is to develop interdisciplinary, science-based proposals for action to tackle the challenges that fast-growing and rapidly changing cities are facing. At the same time, the task forces support regional capacity-building and the optimisation of urbanization impacts on city dwellers and of adaptation processes to global issues such as to climate change.

WHY URBAN AGE TASK FORCES?

With the establishing of the Task Forces, the Urban Age programme is moving forward and expands its activities from research, critical reflection and dialogue to concretely delivering urban change

HOW DO URBAN AGE TASK FORCES WORK?

The first Urban Age Task Force emerged after the Urban Age Conference in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in the summer of 2019. The work of the Addis Ababa Task Force focuses on the themes of housing and urban intensification, accessibility and streets, and green and blue infrastructure. The focus topics were proposed by experts based on a scoring system and evaluated and endorsed by the Addis Ababa City Planning Commission and the Urban Age Executive Group. The goal is to use data and empirical research locally to support strategies and measures for integrated policy making.

The second Urban Age Task Force started in Athens in February 2020, focusing on key areas of urban intervention such as public spaces, access and walkability, urban greening. Expert workshops as well as visits to European cities that have already undergone successful transformation processes serve to identify "best practices" - examples of effective implementation of complex urban development projects. In addition, the participating institutions will collect data on key urban indicators together using the latest GIS mapping and visualisation techniques.

For more information on the Urban Age Task Forces, please contact Elisabeth Mansfeld, head of Cities programme.