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Better Information for Better Cities Background:
The Global Urban Observatory (GUO)addresses the urgent need to
improve the world-wide base of urban knowledge by helping Governments,
local authorities and organizations of the civil society develop
and apply policy-oriented urban indicators, statistics and other
urban information. The GUO was established by UN-HABITAT in response
to a decision of the United Nations Commission on Human Settlements,
which called for a mechanism to monitor global progress in implementing
the Habitat Agenda and to monitor and evaluate global urban conditions
and trends.
Activities: The GUO focuses on building local capacity
to select, collect, manage, and apply indicators and statistics
in policy analysis as fundamental, both to tracking progress in
implementing the Habitat Agenda and to monitoring urban conditions
and trends as input to participatory decision making. Current
activities are based on the development of an integrated network
of National and Local Urban Observatories. The beneficiaries are
policy-makers at all levels and organizations of the civil society
participating in sustainable urban development. The main area
of work is the generation, analysis and dissemination of global,
regional and national urban indicators and statistics.
Flagship products:
Urban
Observatories: Local and National Urban Observatories
are governmental agencies, research centres or educational
institutions that are designated as the "workshops" where
monitoring tools are developed and used for policy-making
through consultative processes. A Local Urban Observatory
for a city or town is the focal point for urban policy development
and planning where collaboration among policy makers, technical
experts and representatives of partners groups is fostered.
Networks of Local Urban Observatories are facilitated by
National Urban Observatories where necessary. National Urban
Observatories co-ordinate capacity building assistance and
compile and analyze urban data for national policy development.
Setting-up an Urban Observatory.
Guide to joining the Global Urban Observatory Network.
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