How to participate

We are very keen to include your responses on our website. It should take 30 to 40 minutes to complete the survey.

After we confirm that you are a city representative (e.g. you work in local government), we will email you a web link to the online survey. This simple process helps improve the quality of the survey. If you would like to participate, query, or update any of the results of this survey, please send an email to  survey@urbangovernance.net.

The key findings of this survey were presented at UCLG’s World Summit of Local and Regional Leaders. For some of the highlights, see this video. 

 

The Urban Governance Survey

As the world becomes increasingly urbanised, the urban agenda and, particularly, the challenges of urban governance also become a central issue in global discussions. Among the key processes, the United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development (Habitat III) which took place in Quito in October 2016 is crucial. However, the sheer prominence of the topic goes beyond the discussions with a substantive urban focus at the outset. For example, the new 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted by world leaders in September 2015, includes for the first time a reference to the specifics of urban development (Sustainable Development Goal number 11), as does the Paris Agreement on climate change achieved in December 2015.

The Urban Governance Survey, developed by LSE Cities, UN Habitat, and UCLG, was first launched in the summer of 2014 and 78 cities from all world regions completed it during this first round. It covers six thematic areas: Jurisdiction, political representation and government; Financial resources, assets and fiscal power; Multi-level governance and decision making processes; Strategic planning instruments; Transport governance; Urban governance challenges.

Initial results of this survey have informed the 2014 Urban Age Conference in Delhi, India which brought together a wide range of policy makers, academics and city experts to discuss the role of urban governance in shaping the future development of cities.

The success of this ongoing study depends on the level of participation of local governments in different countries and global regions. Its impact will certainly benefit from the current global momentum around urban governance-related questions. The Urban Governance Survey collects insights which will contribute to:

  1. Addressing the urban governance ‘data challenge’ as, regardless of constantly increasing information on urban governance in individual cities, we continue to have very limited knowledge on the wide spectrum of different urban governance arrangements that are implemented around the world.
  2. Establishing a platform for individual cities to identify international urban governance cases that are of particular relevance to their own specific situations. It also wishes to foster dialogue and exchanges of good practices between cities.
  3. Exploring new and innovative ways of communicating and mapping urban governance for public dissemination, comparative policy and research analysis.