- The Media for Cities campaign aims to increase the coverage of sustainable urban development in the media.
- The campaign is led by The Urban Journalism Institute in collaboration with UCLG.
- Media for Cities will cover UCLG’s 7th World Congress and Summit of Local and Regional Leaders in the Municipal Times online newspaper.
The Urban Journalism Institute and United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG) have launched the Media for Cities campaign at the UCLG 7th World Congress and Summit of Local and Regional Leaders, held in Daejeon (Republic of Korea) from 10 to 14 October 2022. Every day, Media for Cities will report on the key topics through the online newspaper the Municipal Times.
The Media for Cities campaign is led by the Urban Journalism Institute (UJI) in collaboration with UCLG. The campaign’s goal is to bring urban journalism and city-related topics to newsrooms globally, through advocating within the media sector for research and elaboration of the most effective urban policies and strategies. It also seeks to promote and strengthen the presence of media in dialogues on sustainable urban development. In these ways, Media for Cities seeks to both inform and strengthen sustainable urban development strategies, moving the topic into the spotlight in networking meetings and public debates with influential media representatives, international organizations, and local authorities.
With the increasing and crucial role that cities play in achieving global sustainability, Media for Cities will raise awareness among urban dwellers and decision-makers on urban sustainability, contributing to the understanding of how cities are planned, built, or managed. The campaign will also develop partnership agreements with media all over the world to increase the coverage of sustainable urban development issues.
The Media for Cities campaign will start in 2022, aiming for a medium to long term impact within the context of the UN Decade of Action to deliver the SDGs (2020-2030), the ten-year anniversary of the Habitat III Conference (2026), as well as the review of the 2030 Agenda (2026-2030).
At the launch of the campaign, Emilia Saiz Carrancedo, Secretary General of UCLG, stressed that the Media for Cities campaign will support local authorities to partner with influential media to increase attention on the work done at the local and regional levels. She noted that “Media is essential to promote the collective progress and wellbeing of our communities by reporting stories of interest that help people make well-informed decisions. In order for citizens to shape local policy, they need to be informed about what local and regional governments can do – what local and regional governments are there for.”
Ana B. Moreno, President of OnCities2030 and Director of the Urban Journalism Institute, encouraged media organizations to join the Media for Cities campaign and to promote urban journalism. She highlighted that “covering sustainable urban development contributes to accelerating the implementation of policies and projects which involve long-term improvement of citizen’s lives. The concept of urban journalism goes beyond stories focusing on cities. It is about journalism specialized on covering the urban dynamics which define if a city is sustainable or not. Sustainable cities require well-informed citizens on sustainable urban development.”