GOLD VII comes to life: from report to conversation
For more than two decades, UCLG’s Global Observatory on Local Democracy and Decentralization (GOLD) has documented how local and regional governments are transforming territories around the world. With GOLD VII – Economies of Equality and Care, launched in Tangier, the municipal movement has taken a different path: moving beyond a report to create a living process of dialogue, co-creation and collective learning.
Built over three years with more than 50 partners and drawing on 340 experiences from 200 local and regional governments worldwide, GOLD VII argues that care is not simply another public policy. It is a way of governing that places equality, public services, democracy and the sustainability of life at the centre of local action.
That vision came alive throughout the Congress at the Care Corner, where several contributors to the GOLD VII Multimedia Journal brought their chapters into dialogue with Congress participants.
Public Services International reflected on care systems rooted in workers’ rights; IIED explored housing as an infrastructure of care; the Guangzhou Award shared experiences on caring cities; the Global Platform for the Right to the City (GPR2C) examined public-community partnerships and plural multilateralism; Nourish Scotland presented public restaurants as infrastructure for the right to food; and CIDOB analysed how recentralization can affect local public services and care systems.
More than a report, GOLD VII represents a collective process of research, dialogue and co-creation. Its central message is simple but ambitious: if cities and territories are to become more equal, democratic and resilient, care must become a guiding principle of public policy.
GOLD VII report: https://www.gold.uclg.org/reports/gold-vii