Urban and territorial developments are essential to
achieving sustainable development, as urbanization is the defining trend over
the next several decades. Today, 50% of the world’s 7 billion people live in
urban areas, and, by 2050, this will rise to 70%. Urban areas are home to
extreme deprivation and environmental degradation with one billion people
living in slums. At the same time, roughly 75% of global economic activity is
urban, and as the urban population grows, so will the urban share of global GDP
and investments.
Parallel to this trend is the growing youth population in
the developing world, a trend which is often called the “demographic youth
bulge”. Urbanization is the engine that propels the world towards prosperity in
the 21st century and youth are the engineers. Youth are society’s most
essential and dynamic human resource.
There are more people under the age of 25 today than ever, totaling
nearly three billion or almost half of the total global population; 1.3 billion
of that total are between the age of 12 and 24. These youth live, by and large,
in cities and towns; the cities of the developing world account for over 90% of
the world’s urban growth and youth account for a large percentage of those
inhabitants. It is estimated that as many as 60% of all urban dwellers will be
under the age of 18 by 2030.
For this reason, Urban Youth Councils play a strategic role
as the unique representative bodies of youth at the local / municipal
levels. An Urban Youth Council is any
entity composed of young people that serves as an advisory or advocacy body to
local government or donor agencies. Oftentimes, its role is to identify
priorities, craft policies that support these priorities, and contribute to the
implementation of these policies through public services. While government
officials make decisions that affect youth on a daily basis worldwide, Urban
Youth Councils are able to support the understanding and cooperation of local
authorities and the youth. Urban Youth Councils have and continue to play a
critical role in providing youth the opportunities to have a meaningful voice
in their local communities.
Urban Youth Councils have gradually been established ever
since the Habitat II conference which was held in Istanbul, Turkey in 1996;
however, there is a lack of systematic and structured implementation worldwide.
The establishment of Urban Youth Councils is further guided
and strengthened by the principles of the New Urban Agenda (NUA) that was
adopted during the Habitat III conference in Quito, Ecuador in 2016, which
commits:
1.
The encouragement of the effective
participation and collaboration among all relevant stakeholders, including
local governments, the private sector, civil society, women and youth organizations (NUA paragraph 48)
2.
The Promotion of the strengthening of the
capacity of national, sub-national, ad local governments, including local
governments associations, as appropriate, to work with youth in shaping organizational and institutional governance processes,
enabling them to effectively participate in urban and territorial development
decision-making (NUA paragraph 148)
3.
The promotion of capacity development
initiatives to empower and strengthen skills and abilities of the youth for shaping governance processes, engaging in
dialogue, and promoting and protecting human rights and anti-discrimination, to
ensure their effective participation in urban and territorial development
decision-making (NUA paragraph 155)
