primary management team

This first “International Engagement Brief” summarises the discussion coming out of a session held at the 6th United Cities and Local Government (UCLG) Congress, in November 2019 in Durban, South Africa. The panel session entitled ‘Partnerships for Urban Equality’ was hosted by the ‘Knowledge in Action for Urban Equality’ (KNOW) programme. This session involved inputs from representatives of two KNOW partner cities. From Freetown, contributions were made by: Mayor Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr and Braima Koroma of SLURC. From Havana, Dr. Anelis María Marichal González, General Director of Territorial and Urban Planning, at the Institute of Physical Planning (IPF) and Prof. Jorge Peña Díaz from CUJAE made presentations. Expert comments were provided by William (Billy) Cobbett, Director of Cities Alliance, and Prof. Ana Falú from the Habitat International Coalition. Finally, the session was closed with the poem ‘Life in the Slum, Still I Rise…’ by Sierra Leonean poet and activist Fatmata Shour.

This brief reports on the content of these discussions, using grounded examples from Freetown and Havana to highlight the principles which underpin these partnerships. In doing so, this brief aims to further discussions with urban practitioners on the different kinds of partnerships which exist, how they are established and negotiated, and the conditions under which ‘partnerships with equivalence’ can be practiced to promote greater urban equality

The concept, content and edition of this brief were developed by KNOW Research Fellows Stephanie Butcher and Camila Cociña, and KNOW Investigators Alexandre Apsan Frediani, Michele Acuto and Caren Levy.