(Yicai Global) Oct. 31 -- The global host event of World Cities Day and the Second International Conference on Urban Sustainability, co-hosted by China’s Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, the Shanghai government, and the United Nations Human Settlement Programme, got underway in the Chinese city yesterday.

The opening session of the World Cities Day 2022 was held online and offline today. Under the theme of ‘Act Local to Go Global,’ the event will discuss and exchange ideas and foster cooperation to promote the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals by enabling all parties to build consensus.

World Cities Day is the first international observance day designated by the UN with cities as its focus and the first designated by China’s government. It is widely recognized and supported by the international community.

This year's World Cities Day events will share a wide range of Chinese examples and announce and promote many important achievements, including the release of the 2022 edition of the Shanghai Manual, the introduction of the Global Sustainable Cities Award (Shanghai Award), and the disclosure of the results of the Global Urban Monitoring Framework-Shanghai Application Index (Shanghai Index).

The results will show to the world China's efforts in promoting sustainable urban development as well as Shanghai's outstanding contribution to the development of a global urban governance system. 

The World Cities Day host event will hold four themed forums, eight special forums, and three exhibitions. The UN-Habitat will also hold a roundtable and a series of themed meetings online.

At the closing ceremony of the 2010 Shanghai World Expo, the organizing committee, the UN, and the International Exhibition Bureau jointly released the Shanghai Declaration, which proposed to designate Oct. 31 as World Cities Day. In December 2013, the UN General Assembly passed a resolution to that effect. The first World Cities Day was observed in 2014.

Editor: Futura Costaglione