3rd World Forum of Intermediary Cities

This edition of the World Forum is willing to generate the adequate space for the Intermediary Cities of the World for addressing the right questions to the current Global Challenges. The right questions need the rights people around the table to help identifying solutions, agendas and pathways to deliver on the potential mechanisms that will offer a frame for the Intermediary Cities agendas to be developed.    

Structured around the citizenship’s empowerment, and the capacity of the Intermediary Cities’ citizenship to build the resilience and development of the territories, the development of the World Forum is oriented to thinking together the pathways to build the enabling conditions for Mayors of Intermediary Cities to empower their citizens, giving them the right conditions to fulfil their share of responsibilities, as well as to undertake the right dynamics to responsabilize and support the right policymaking needed to deal locally with global challenges.

To follow the sessions online, please click on this link (External link).

9:00 - 10.00 | Segment 1

Stocktake with Intermediary Cities of the World and Partners

10.30 - 11.30 | Segment 2 

Envisioning the future of our territories through Youth perspective

11.30 - 12.30 | Segment 3 

Loss and Damages: a way to integrate the three climate related agendas: Biodiversity, Climate Change and Desertification

Organized by the Association of Municipalities of Ecuador (AME)

Lunch offered to the Forum's participants

Climate Day agenda – Continuation of morning sessions

14.30 - 16.30 | Segment 4

A Regional Approach Towards Belem COP30

By invitation only

Parallel event organized by CONGOPE

Parallel event organized by CONGOPE

The official opening of the World Forum of Intermediary Cities will set the stage for an inspiring and collaborative gathering, starting with an institutional segment that highlights the leadership and commitment of key figures from across the globe. This segment will feature opening remarks from distinguished leaders from the UCLG World Organization, to set the tone on the collective vision and action needed to address the challenges and opportunities of intermediary cities in global governance.

To follow the Opening online, please click on this link (External link).

Cocktail offered by the Municipality of Cuenca to the Forum's participants

Social event organized by the Municipality of Cuenca for all participants.

To participate in the sessions online, please click on this link (External link).

Key agenda: Decentralized Cooperation for Intermediary Cities: Building models for a global citizenship that enhances sustainability in the new multilevel governance

This panel will explore the potential for a model of decentralized cooperation that empowers intermediary cities to strengthen their role in addressing critical global challenges such as climate change, migration, and sustainable development. Through the lens of multilevel governance and global citizenship, the session aims to identify key elements of a model adapted to intermediary cities, fostering collaboration and sustainable impact.

Key agenda: Building a territory from a rural perspective to safeguard natural resources and food security

This panel emphasizes the potential of rurality as a transformative axis for safeguarding natural resources and rurality as a transformative axis to safeguard natural resources and ensure food security in the face of climate and social challenges.

For the Forum's participants

Key agenda: Rethinking basic services through ecological and technological solutions in times of human settlements expansion

This panel will explore how intermediary cities can bridge urban and rural communities through innovative approaches to basic services, addressing challenges linked to population growth, informal settlements, and urbanization. By adopting an ecological lens and leveraging technological solutions, participants will discuss how to improve service provision while fostering sustainable territorial cohesion.

Details coming soon

Key agenda: The key platform to redefine new pathways to development in this new era: a new nature of development that takes care of the territory and its people

This panel will focus on strategies to address the financing and technical challenges faced by intermediary cities as they work toward climate resilience, social justice, and sustainable infrastructure development. Discussions will explore innovative pathways, such as leveraging natural resources, smart land capture mechanisms, and digitalization, to secure fair and adequate funding. Following the discussion at the Chefchaouen Forum on fiscal assets of Intermediary Cities, the exchange will address the pathways that go beyond GDP as a measure of wealth and development.

Key agenda: Empowering Citizenship: Intermediary Cities as hubs of participatory democracy and social justice that is connected to global challenges and safeguards of local democracy

This panel will explore how intermediary cities can become hubs of participatory democracy, fostering a culture of citizenship, proximity, and community engagement. It will examine how local governance models can empower citizens, promote social justice, and address critical issues such as ensuring mobility as a human right.

This final panel will present the Cuenca Declaration.