A Commonwealth Coalition for Sustainable Urbanisation

A proposal was brought by the Commonwealth Sustainable Cities Initiative (CSCI) to create a coalition to help accelerate transformational change in urbanisation across the Commonwealth. Such a coalition would be multi-level (i.e. national and sub-national governments), multi-disciplinary, and multi-sector.

There was strong support for the proposal. The Commonwealth was described as a unique organisation with strong convening power, including at the ministerial level, and would provide an opportunity to pursue shared action in this area while helping to implement the Declaration on Sustainable Urbanisation.

Several activities that the coalition might support were highlighted:

• Sharing of knowledge and expertise across the network, including on digital planning, large-scale datasets, technical expertise, and multi-level delivery and implementation. A wide range of participants expressed willingness to participate in this.
• Conducting research to close evidence and data gaps and support translating policy into action. The Association of Commonwealth Universities will be launching an ‘Expert Group’ on sustainable urbanisation to support this.
• Time-limited city-to-city partnerships, or “twinning”, and “peer review” of cities. Multiple cities could produce urban development plans at the same time and draw on coalition support to deliver a scaled pipeline of projects in more than one location.
• Establishment of regional hubs for cities with similar challenges (e.g. in sub-Saharan Africa) to facilitate more specific and tailored activities.
• Targeted training and capacity-building for mayors, urban planners, civil servants, and other professionals, including reviewing competencies and qualifications. Some participants already provide technical assistance and training opportunities to municipalities and would be willing to make these more widely available. (There could be an existing model for this in the Commonwealth Judicial Education Institute (CJEI)).
• Advocation of innovative finance mechanisms for cities and local governments. A common financing instrument could be considered. Alternatively, multilateral development banks could provide national or sub-national finance options.

The multi-level aspect of the coalition was deemed to be particularly important as a way of sharing knowledge and strengthening the voices and actions of national and subnational governments.

Key thematic areas identified for action in the coalition included: finance; digital and data transformation; education and training; disaster resilience; urban planning; public-private partnerships (PPPs); extreme heat and cooling; affordable housing; governance and strengthening the involvement of local governments; and informal settlements.

Next steps for CSCI could include:

• Mapping other existing coalitions to avoid duplication with this coalition.
• Exploring options around funding for the coalition’s activities and working to establish a secretariat to lead on this agenda.
• Establishing the appetite for the development of a Ministerial Steering Group to better connect policy and practice (drawing inspiration from the model adopted by the Commonwealth Blue Charter).
• Establishing clear objectives, actions, and timelines, and identifying “quick wins” to maintain momentum.
• Establishing regular progress monitoring and communication with national and sub-national governments and networks.

Jacob Osborne
Wilton Park | May 2025

In partnership with

---