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Government Actions United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN Habitat) promotes socially and environmentally sustainable towns and cities. They envision well-planned, well-governed and efficient cities and other human settlements, that have adequate housing, infrastructure, and universal access to employment services such as water, energy, and sanitation. World Urban Forum The World Urban Forum was last held in February 2020, in Abu Dhabi. It was about cities of opportunities and connecting culture and innovation. Some of the declared actions and points of interest from this forum were: Cities have the opportunity to take the lead in plan and design as well as manage transitions towards inclusion, resilience, sustainability, economic growth and shared prosperity. Cities are also addressing many global challenges including poverty, gender inequalities, human rights violations, unemployment, health emergencies, loss of social cohesion, threat to cultural heritage and cultural diversity, environmental degradation, migration, disaster risk and climate change. Culture is a core component of local identity including heritage, creativity and diversity and urbanisation needs to be planned, designed and managed to enhance this. The culture and creative industries are rapidly expanding sources of employment and economic development in cities and urban areas globally. At the global level, this requires strong leadership, more resources and smarter solutions. At the local level, this includes shifts in policy, budget, institutions, and regulatory frameworks to make cities safe, resilient, and sustainable, grounded in cultural heritage and creative practice. Watch this video to learn more about the World Urban Forum: Cleaner Production Promotion Law An example of efforts from governments regarding environmental issues and urbanisation can be seen in China. They passed a Cleaner Production Promotion Law in 2002, which addressed issues of poor air quality. The law was enacted to promote cleaner production, increase the efficiency of the utilisation rate of resources, reduce and avoid the generation of pollutants, protect and improve environments, ensure the health of human beings and promote the sustainable development of the economy and society. They also implemented a household registration system in the 1950s, where it classified residents as urban or rural. This allowed for population mobility to be controlled and eligibility for state-provided services and welfare to be determined. ProAire programme Another example of governments working towards sustainability for environments around urbanisation is Mexico City. The Government of the State of Mexico, the Ministries of the Environment and of Health and the Government of Mexico City created and launched ProAire in 1995. This initiative addresses 8 themes: Reduction of energy consumption. Cleaner and more efficient energy across all sectors. Promoting public transport and regulating fuel consumption. Technology shift and controlling emissions. Environmental education. Creating a sustainability culture and citizen participation. Green areas and reforestation. Institutional capacity building and scientific research. Ways they are trying to achieve this include use of fuel-efficient cars, improving public transport and reducing factors contributing to soil erosion, the use of alternative fuels and more fuel-efficient cars were promoted and adopted throughout the city. Task Sometimes learning the key terms used in a new unit of learning can be tricky. Use the crossword to work out the key Terms. Learning them this way will help you to remember them. Now take some time to add one section to your mind map about what you learnt today. Use one colour to draw your line from the middle title and any branches coming off it. Each week use a different colour to show the new concept branches.