5th Municipal Conference of Urban Policy of the Municipality of Belo Horizonte - Minas Gerais, Brazil.

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Description

Intro

The Municipal Conference of Urban Policy is a democratic forum provided by urban legislation of the Municipality of Belo Horizonte, whose objective is to discuss the development and territorial planning of the city. The fifth edition of the Conference, held in December 2018, called the population to propose good practices to achieve principles of sustainability, resilience and inclusion, condensed in SDG 11. This proposal reflects the purpose of continuing the debate on incorporate The New Urban Agenda principles in the conduct and implementation of urban policy, reaffirming it's commitment to the document and ensuring the implementation of SDG in territory.

Objective of the practice

The 5th Municipal Conference of Urban Policy of the Municipality of Belo Horizonte addressed the development of the city under the principles of sustainability, resilience and inclusion. It counted on the participation of the community as an important agent in the achievement of The New Urban Agenda guidelines. Civil society was widely convened, with representation of universities, professional entities, non-governmental organizations, community organizations, residents and entities of specific sectoral demands and employers of industry, commerce and services, all of those linked to the urban question and legally constituted. The entries were linked to completing the public consultation "Cidades Sustentáveis", held in partnership with UN-HABITAT with Colab, in order to understand how different stakeholders in a city can align and improve their responsibilities in the area of sustainability. In its previous editions, the Conference consisted on a democratic forum for evaluating the impacts of urban development legislation on urban development. The City Council of Urban Policy, which is responsible for conducting the social participation event, decided that the fifth edition of the Conference would address the impacts of the norms that direct urban development in light of The New Urban Agenda, calling the population to also assume the responsibility in the construction of a more sustainable city for all. In order to ensure social mobilization and the maintenance of the deliberative character of the Conference, innovative initiatives were held in the city to exhibit their work and compete for UN-HABITAT and City Hall recognition. We sought to identify groups and institutions that promote actions that make the difference in search of a more just and sustainable city. They have presented projects that have changed the dynamics of the communities where they live, demonstrating how good practices can transform the reality of a territory in different aspects and how simple ideas can be replicated in different realities. The initiatives demonstrated the importance and responsibility of all to be engaged in building a better city, in dialogue with the notion of co-responsibility that was intended to be transmitted. The event was held in December 2018 and aimed to prepare a letter of collective commitments for urban development based on the principles of The New Urban Agenda. The debate, involving around 200 people, developed from three thematic axes established by SDG 11: Qualified Neighborhood Unit, Environment and Sustainable Urbanization and Inclusive Urban Mobility. The choice of themes was based on the understanding that cities are responsible for some of the challenges presented by The New Urban Agenda and can contribute to solving them in a variety of ways, among them: through neighborhood qualification strategies, in order to trade and services and facilitate walking on foot to meet daily demands; through the production of an environmentally sustainable urban space; and by promoting accessibility and low-emission urban mobility. In order to do so, technicians from several secretariats of the City Hall and civil society representatives were involved in the elaboration of a diagnosis that could support the discussion in the territory.

Partners

The 5th Municipal Conference of Urban Policy of the Municipality of Belo Horizonte is convoked on a quadrennial basis by the City Council of Urban Policy. The members of the Council participated in the conceptualization of the themes and definition of the innovative initiatives of the social groups that would be exposed in the participatory forum. Also collaborated for the realization of the V CMPU the following actores: UN-Habitat; public sectors linked to urban planning, mobility, housing, environmental and cultural policies, among others; selected innovative initiatives; representatives of civil society, non governmental groups; among others.

Implementation of the Project/Activity

The City Council of Urban Policy has the responsibility to convoke the Municipal Conference of Urban Policy every four years. The Council discusses issues affecting city development in monthly meetings, but the shared decision forum of the Conference brings together a diversity of stakeholders to discuss guidelines and conducting planning and regulation of the territory. This practice of collective discussion of the urban growth model and the norms that will regulate the occupation of space is historical in Belo Horizonte. Since the 1990s, the Master Plan of the City of Belo Horizonte and its alterations, has been discussed with the citizens before being approved as law. For the 5th Municipal Conference of Urban Policy, the Council decided on the schedule and the criteria of popular participation. The forum’s preparation began in August 2018, with the Council’s mobilization, among with technical teams directed by the Department of Urban Policy and with support of various departments from the City Hall related to territorial development. The definitions of the forum were discussed in Council meetings, starting in October 2018, when the proposal to cover The New Urban Agenda guidelines in the next Conference was approved. An Organizing Committee composed by Council members was created, which was responsible for detailing the stages of the event and for the selection of innovative initiatives that would have their projects displayed in banners throughout the event. People from various social groups have presented ongoing actions that modify the socio-territorial reality of the communities where they live. Civil society in general was also widely invited to participate in the Conference through: invitations in electronic format, invitations to other municipal councils, posters posted in public buildings and in public transport, and invitations disseminated in the social networks of City Hall. In order to establish a communication channel with the population, a page was built on the City Hall website and a specific email was created dedicated to providing information about the event, including access to Colab's research in partnership with UN-HABITAT " Sustainable Cities "(http://pbh.gov.br/cmpu). The Conference was held in three stages: Opening, Working Groups and Final Plenary. The debate was developed from three thematic axes defined by Compur. At the Opening, the Executive presented the contextualization of the proposal of the new Master Plan of the City of Belo Horizonte and its dialogue with The New Urban Agenda. UN-Habitat also assisted in the process of elaborating the work dynamics and guaranteed its representation at the Opening, reaffirming its partnership with the Municipality. The dynamics of Working Groups were organized by the technical team of the Municipal Government, which prepared a diagnostic material and training workshops to support the moment of discussion. At the event, the participants were divided in groups to discuss the themes in all their complexity. At the Closing Plenary, each sector of civil society presented their resolutions. Three innovative initiatives presented good practices undertaken in their communities and the innovative initiatives of the Conference were announced.

Results/Outputs/Impacts

As a result of the 5th Municipal Conference of Urban Policy, several sectors of civil society discussed and presented 93 proposals, named by the participants Good Practices, that aim to make Belo Horizonte a more resilient, sustainable, humane and inclusive city. These are daily and local actions that can qualify the lives of the largest number of inhabitants of the municipality, to be carried out by organized civil society, sometimes in partnership with the Executive. The notion of co-responsibility in the face of challenges to make a better city for all was approached and recognized by a large part of present actors, fulfilling one of the main objectives of the event. Priority was given to practices that address issues of reproducibility, short and medium-term effects, which contemplate diversity of ages and gender and require low costs. Withal 137 Recommendations to the Executive were pointed out. These resolutions were conducted in dialogue with the technical team composed by Municipal Government departments. Therefore, a greater interchange and recognition by public authorities of the possibilities of lines of action were guaranteed, actions that could better dialogue with civil society needs and the agenda motivated by SDG 11. From now on, this consultation with the population can be used to support plans, projects and public action programs. At the event, 36 innovative initiatives exposed their experience through banners and collaborated to inspire the debates in Working Groups, as well as to demonstrate possibilities of action that go beyond the sphere of public power, but whose protagonists are several actors of civil society mobilized. On the other hand, a challenge was launched for public authorities to create communication channels that would allow them to collaborate in the multiplication and strengthening of such initiatives. The Play Space was also an initiative helded by the Conference. It was an environment dedicated to recreation and play activities with children focused on urban education, designed to provide participation of families that often fail to experience these important spaces because they have no alternatives to child care. In this space, in order to awaken in children the interest in themes related to the city, dynamics were organized by the technical team the Department of Urban Policy in partnership with the Institute of Architecture of Brazil (IAB) and with the collaboration of the Municipal Secretary of Sports and Leisure. It is hoped that, in the future, it will be possible to add the children's perspective to the urban planning debate in dialogue with the inclusion proposal inserted in The New Urban Agenda.

Enabling factors and constraints

The 5th Municipal Conference of Urban Policy was scheduled for 2018. With this, the expenses related to the realization of the CMPU occurred within the public budget of the Municipal Department of Urban Policy established for the year of 2018. However, other municipal departments and secretariats also contributed with the internal administration and the infrastructure for the event. The Municipal Tourism Company of Belo Horizonte S/A (Belotur) assisted in hiring a company specialized in events organization that had already complied with the requirements to provide services to the Municipality, as required by law. Among the services provided that included the expenses of the event, there are: the provision of infrastructure, food and human resources. The Municipal Department of Education and the Caio Líbano Soares Municipal School contributed to the assignment of the physical spaces where the Conference took place. The Municipal Secretary of Sports and Leisure offered the materials used in the Play Space. The technical team of Department of Urban Planning contributed with the preparation of a material that guided the debate in Working Groups. Also, it is worth mentioning the support of the technical team of other Municipal Government departments and secretariats that collaborated with the mediation of Working Groups: Urbanization and Housing Company of Belo Horizonte, Transport and Traffic Company of Belo Horizonte, Municipal Environment Secretariat, Subsecretariat for Inspection, Subsecretariat for Urban Regulation, Subsecretariat for Food and Nutrition Security and Secretariat for Planning and Budget. Altogether, more than 50 exhibitors participated in the organization of the event, fomenting discussions and arranging results. Besides public sphere, UN-HABITAT also contributed with the process of building the dynamics of Working Groups and with the presence of representatives and a video presentation at the event. That support was important to reinforce Belo Horizonte’s effort and performance in achieving UN goals. Innovative institutions have contributed to inspire discussions in Working Groups and broaden the perspective of civil society on its possibilities of action. The public budget included the costs of printing all the banners displayed on the Conference, ensuring the participation of all interested civil society. The main challenge experienced in the organization of the collective discussion forum was the fact that some segments of the private sector, specifically related to construction companies, opposed to discuss the implementation of urban legislation in light of The New Urban Agenda in this forum, historically occupied by the debate of propositions the had the purpose of making changes in the Master Plan of the City of Belo Horizonte. Anyway, the Conference left a legacy of good practices that can be applied by civil society to the development of the principles of inclusion, resilience and sustainability in the city. It also has contributed with a list of Recommendations to the Executive for building a better city for all.

Sustainability and replicability

In the debate established at the 5th Municipal Conference of Urban Policy, various contents related to the sustainability theme were addressed, such as: use of public spaces in everyday life; access to trade and services; urban security; inclusion for all; protection of natural, tangible and intangible patrimony; care with public space; quality of the air and the urban environment; waste generation and management; nature based solutions; green spaces and environmental connections; urban agriculture; reduction of the emission of greenhouse gases; preventive measures to disasters; sustainable economy; development oriented towards sustainable transport; active mobility; urban health; universal accessibility; traffic safety; among others. The debate resulted in a set of propositions of good practices to be adopted by civil society and private sector, sometimes in partnership with public power. These included actions related to urban and environmental education, the creation of community gardens, the promotion of local producers' fairs and the stimulation of active mobility. The main challenge was to create a strategy related that public policies assimilate actions undertaken by civil society in public spaces, considering the bureaucracy that often permeates the Municipal Administration. To inspire the construction of good practice proposals and the commitments between civil society and public sphere around The New Urban Agenda, the Conference brought together people and institutions that make a difference in building a more just and sustainable city through innovative initiatives. The selection of these initiatives included criteria such as: reproducibility of action in the territory; scope and relevance of the promoted effects, privileging alternatives of implementation of low cost; range of people involved in terms of age, income, gender and race; economic sustainability; preference for alternatives that work together with diverse groups of civil society actors; high adaptability to local specificities; and other factors that drive the materialization of more inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable urban spaces for all. The community was widely invited to participate, and by publicizing such initiatives in the event and on the website of the City Hall, it is hoped to have paved the way for them to be replicated in other places in the territory. The Recommendations to the Executive have been sent to various Municipal Government departments whose responsibilities and competencies dialogue with its content. It is intended to expand its internal dissemination to the Municipal Administration, in order to seek its implementation. Meanwhile, the possibilities of establishing communication channels and internal integration between the Municipal Administration has been studied, onde it can facilitate the proposed actions to be replicated in other territories. Finally, it should be pointed out that this experience of the Municipality of Belo Horizonte, using budgetary and human resources efforts to incorporate The New Urban Agenda debate in the discussion of urban policy, could be replicated in other municipalities in Brazil, considering that this democratic and shared forum is legally established in specific cities, according to the federal law Statute of Cities (Federal Law nº 10.257/2001).

Conclusions

The 5th Municipal Conference of Urban Policy of the Municipality of Belo Horizonte was one of the first initiatives worldwide to debate the guidelines proposed by The New Urban Agenda and especially SDG 11 in a shared management forum on municipal urban policy. The effort to gather budget and human resources of the Municipal Administration ensured a process of dissemination among various actors from civil society of the objectives and goals set forth in The New Urban Agenda, in addition to making possible the creation of the notion of a shared sense of responsibility for the construction of a more sustainable, resilient, safe and inclusive city. It was an important step considering the difficulties that many sectors of civil society often have in understanding the implications of global goals in the territory, on a smaller scale of time and space. At the same time, t was an opportunity for these actors to see themselves as mobilizers and entrepreneurs that can make a difference, from the local to the global level. This type of initiative is very important, especially when the city is the center of discussion, once it is built in daily life between various local actors, who have diverse demands and interests accumulated in the complexity of urban life. Although urban legislation is the main way used to regulate and order these different interests in the territory, the debate around The New Urban Agenda has expanded the possibilities for action and understanding of the role that each citizen assumes in front of his neighbors. The novelty of inviting innovative initiatives already in action in the city to the debate contributed to make the discussions more palpable and to extend the possibilities its reproduction in other territories of the city. At the same time, the possibility of creating a network of initiatives that could share their knowledge and experiences was opened. Two of the three innovative initiatives that winned the competition were initiatives of shelters of women in situations of violence. In a way, that is an example of the coverage of issues that involve the urban issue and can mobilize people and resources in the struggle for social transformation, including gender debate. At last, the process of seeking to incorporate the resolutions presented at the Conference into the Municipal Administration structure, dialoguing with existing policies and programs or establishing new projects, is a step forward in terms of the shared construction of measures that seek to achieve the SDG. In this sense, a staff of technicians from the various departments and secretariats of the City Hall has been organized to ensure that the discussions held at the conference can produce more benefits for the city.

Other sources of information

Belo Horizonte’s City Hall official website provides a series of information on policies, projects, programs and actions that were a reference for the construction of a diagnosis to support the debate that took place at the 5th Municipal Conference of Urban Policy (https://prefeitura.pbh.gov.br/). Some initiatives can be highlighted, such as: the Urban Mobility Observatory (for more information go to http://www.bhtrans.pbh.gov.br/portal/page/portal/portalpublico/Temas/Ob…), the Climate Change Committee (for more information go to https://prefeitura.pbh.gov.br/meio-ambiente/comite-de-mudancas-climatic…) and the Millennium Observatory (for more information go to https://observatoriodomilenio.pbh.gov.br/). The Millennium Observatory was created in September 2006, with the support of UN-HABITAT, with other partner institutions in the Municipality, such as: Federal University of Minas Gerais, Pontifical Catholic University of Minas Gerais, Minas Gerais Foundation of Education and Culture, UNA University Center, João Pinheiro Foundation, State Government and Federation of Industries of the State of Minas Gerais. In 2018, the Sustainable Development Objectives Monitoring Report for Belo Horizonte 2018 (available at https://observatoriodomilenio.pbh.gov.br/sites/observatoriodomilenio.pb…) was published. It presents the first results of SDG indicators selected by the Municipality to monitoring the New Urban Agenda in the city, to be followed up to the year 2030.
Other reports prepared and published by the City Hall were also used for the construction of such material, such as: Municipal Inventory of Greenhouse Gas Emissions (2015, available at http://portalpbh.pbh.gov.br/pbh/ecp/comunidade.do?evento=portlet&pIdPlc…); Greenhouse Gas Emission Reduction Plan (2013, available at http://portalpbh.pbh.gov.br/pbh/ecp/comunidade.do?evento=portlet&pIdPlc…; Analysis of Vulnerability to Climate Change in the Municipality of Belo Horizonte (2016, available at http://conteudo.waycarbon.com/resumo-para-os-tomadores-de-decisao-estud…; Municipal Solid Waste Management Plan of Belo Horizonte (2017, available at https://prefeitura.pbh.gov.br/slu/plano-municipal-de-residuos-solidos/i…); Urban Mobility Plan of Belo Horizonte - PlanMob-BH (2010, available at http://www.bhtrans.pbh.gov.br/portal/pls/portal/!PORTAL.wwpob_page.show…); and Environmental Certification through the creation of the Sustainable BH Seal (2009, available at http://cesa.pbh.gov.br/scsae/index.smma;jsessionid=A01FE11541EE9B9D8A34…). The book Sustainable City, a result of the ICLEI - Local Governments for Sustainability, Latin America and the Caribbean World Congress realized at 2012 was also consulted (more information available at http://archive.iclei.org/index.php?id=579).

SDGS & Targets

Goal 7

Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all

Goal 6

Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all

Goal 2

End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture

Goal 11

Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable

Goal 5

Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls

Goal 16

Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels