The Global Platform for the Right to the City (GPR2C) and United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG) are proud to present the Policy Paper on the Commons, prepared to inform discussions during and beyond the 7th UCLG Congress to take place between October 10th and 14th 2022 in Daejeon, South Korea. Building on the collaborative synergies spanning from the joint work ahead of UCLG’s last World Congress (Durban, 2019), the paper is the result of a robust collective process that has been in development since the beginning of 2022 under the framework of the UCLG Town Hall.

 

Click here to download the paper. 

The Global Commons Town Hall facilitated by the GPR2C

Gathering a broad range of actors and sectors, this learning and advocacy process sought to contribute to:

  1. Articulating and deepening shared narratives on the commons from an intersectional,multi-sectorial and trans-scalar perspective;
  2. Broadening collaborations and partnerships across sectors and regions in order to foster the commons at material, symbolic and political level;
  3. Leveraging the voice and role of local communities in order to strengthen integrated and co-created public policies for more just, democratic and sustainable territories

Following the participatory methodology for the Town Halls, the Policy Paper is the result of a collective process of elaboration developed between January and September 2022, including a series of online and in-person meetings as well as the co-production of written inputs. 

Facilitated by the Global Platform for the Right to the City, the Commons Town Hall is formed by a broad range of organizations and networks, including: the Cities Coalition for Digital Rights, Open Society Foundations, the African Center for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes (ACCORD), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO); as well as representatives from three (cross-cutting) Caucuses: youth ( Children and Youth Major Group), feminism/women (the Huairou Commission) and accessibility (World Enabled, the General Assembly of Partners Older Persons PartnerConstituent Group and the World Blind Union). Participants at the multiple working sessions included: Bartlett Development Planning Unit (DPU), FIAN International(FIAN), Habitat International Coalition, International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), Observatori DESC (Barcelona, Spain), Women in Informal Employment Globalizing and Organizing (WIEGO).

The policy paper will be the basis for the discussion on the Global Commons Town Hall, held in the framework of the UCLG Congress on Thursday October 13th, which aims to engage with local and regional governments constituency to jointly define policies for advancing on the implementation of the Right to the City at the local and regional levels through commoning practices. Here you may find more information on the UCLG Congress and the activities organized by the GPR2C and its members.

The UCLG Congress and Town Halls

The UCLG Town Hall is the space for dialogue and interaction between different internationally organized civil society constituencies and the political leadership of the local and regional governments constituency to jointly define global policies. The Town Hall culminates in a corpus of integrated policy recommendations resulting from a consultation with other stakeholders. 

The 2022 UCLG Town Hall is seeking to renew the structured dialogue between the local and regional governments constituency and internationally organized civil society and is strengthened by the presence of international partners and 3 cross-cutting caucuses (youth, feminism and accessibility). The subjects of the Town Hall are directly linked to UCLG’s Pact for the Future and its three axes (People, Planet and Government) and are the following:

  • Caring systems;
  • Climate and Culture;
  • Global Commons
  • Trust in Government