State of the Commonwealth Cities is an action-research programme designed to address the myriad of problems facing cities in the twenty-first century.
According to current estimates, the urban population of the Commonwealth swells by some 65,000 people a day – over 23.5 million every year. With rapid urbanisation, poverty and environmental impacts are not far behind.
To date there has been scant research or action by urban policy makers and civil society on human settlements. Knowledge on how to manage the rapid growth in urban settlements is fragmented and unfocused.
Recognising this, Commonwealth Environment Ministers got together in the wings of the UN Habitat conference in Nairobi, Kenya, in 2009 to endorse our planned systematic analysis of Commonwealth cities.
Scoping the cities
We work collaboratively on the State of the Commonwealth Cities project through ComHabitat, a partnership of government and civil society partners, including the Commonwealth Secretariat, Commonwealth Local Government Forum, Commonwealth Human Ecology Council and Commonwealth Association of Planners.
State of the Commonwealth Cities is designed to share knowledge, understanding and best practices and provoke discussion and action by Commonwealth governments and civil society groups.
In time, a regular State of the Cities report should become a catalyst for local, national and bi-lateral co-operation, and better urban planning.