Cities

In September 2015, the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda was adopted, and for the first time, migration was included in mainstream global development policy. With the objective of communicating how IOM identifies migration in the 2030 Agenda to stakeholders and the wider public, and to shed light on the complex challenges and opportunities that accompany the migration-related targets, this IOM publication aims to showcase how different areas of migration are addressed in the Sustainable Development Goals.

The report identifies several global trends that will shape the world in 2030. They include: •• The empowerment of the individual, which may contribute to a growing sense of belonging to a single human community; •• Greater stress on sustainable development against a backdrop of greater resource scarcity and persistent poverty, compounded by the consequences of climate change; •• The emergence of a more polycentric world characterised by a shift of power away from states, and growing governance gaps as the mechanisms for inter-state relations fail to respond adequately to global public demands

This paper argues that a new agenda for the relations between the European Union (EU) and Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) is necessary, and that city regions can play an important role in it. Due to the shortcomings of the previous interregional strategy and the futile discussion if Latin America follows the European integration model, this new agenda should focus more on triangular and decentralized forms of cooperation aid, trade issues, and the knowledge transfer of poverty- and polarization-reduction strategies. Based on the foreign policy approaches of two Colombian case studies (the city-regions of Barranquilla and Medellin), it is shown that the international activities of Latin American city-regions can open new perspectives for EU–LAC relations.

This paper is the outcome of a round table event that took place on the 4th of June2015 and which was organised in the context of the 8th EU-LAC Summit / 2nd EUCELAC Summit of 10-11 June 2015. This initiative, taken by the EU-LAC Foundation in partnership with the Centre for Fine Arts in Brussels (BOZAR), with the support of the European Commission - DG DEVCO, EUNIC and More Europe - external cultural relations, had the objective of strengthening the relations between Europe, the Caribbean and Latin America. More than 20 experts from different backgrounds - academics, members of international institutions, artists, journalists and specialists from private and public sectors and civil society - from those regions gathered to discuss the theme “Urban Development and Public Space: Culture as a Driver for Cities” which was in line with the Summit’s theme “Shaping our Common Future: working for prosperous, cohesive and sustainable societies for our citizens”.