VENICE DECLARATION

WHEREAS at the United Nations Sustainable Development Summit on 25 September 2015, more than 150 world leaders adopted the new 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, including the Sustainable Development Goals and a dedicated goal for urban development, SDG11, which calls to “make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable”;

WHEREAS at the UN Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development, Habitat III, Member states signed the New Urban Agenda, an action-oriented document that sets global standards of achieving SDG11, rethinking the way we build, manage, and live in cities.

WHEREAS the New Urban Agenda acknowledges that while most of the global population and capital goods are concentrated in cities, urban areas remain crucial to social development, economic prosperity and poverty eradication.

WHEREAS cities and territories drive most of the economic growth and are a source of innovation, facing sanitation and security challenges while acting as cultural centers.

WHEREAS families are crucial development agents provided they can find an adequate environment needed to facilitate their role and make possible an accurate assessment of the needs for inclusive cities, especially in terms of investment in infrastructure.

WHEREAS the building of cities that are inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable require intensive policy coordination and investment choices for families to reach their potential as productive, engaged, and capable agents of sustainable development, contributing fully to their members and communities.

IN SIGNING THIS DECLARATION, we proclaim the commitment of the regions, cities and territories we represent to follow this universal call through the following common endeavors, as proposed by the International Federation for Family Development:

1. HOUSING

Urban settlements should consider all family situations and social groups, flexible and healthy urban planning, environmental impact assessment and financial assistance in building sustainable and resilient buildings, with special attention to demographic shifts and trends.

2. NEW TECHNOLOGIES

The need to connect people through new technologies should enable the expansion of infrastructure, promote equal access and upgrade technology and connectivity meant for all family members in the urban area to ensure social inclusion, while reducing the digital gap among generations through the skill-building of older persons, professional carers and families in vulnerable situations, and highlight the role of collective telecare based on monitoring.

3. EDUCATION

The quality, access and affordability of childcare facilities should be improved in locations close to the residence or workplace of parents, parenting education programs, intergenerational meeting places for cultural activities, participation of older persons in educational activities, youth skill-building initiatives and wider opportunities for social integration.

4. HEALTHCARE

The importance of promoting healthy habits and lifestyles, especially those targeted to prevent mental disorders and to meet the needs of older persons, also through parenting education, setting the necessary structure to stimulate innovation and intergenerational relations in hospitals as well as medical attention of visitors and tourists.

5. SAFETY

Create a welcoming environment in the streets based on solidarity, mutual support and social interaction, through instruments like promoting volunteers, legal assistance, community police, the use of technology, information, confidentiality of sensitive data, personal patrimonial safety, and training on crises.

6. ENVIRONMENT

Allocation of resources for energy transition strategies, more green areas, developing technologies to reduce carbon footprint, better tax benefits for climate actions, a progressive reduction of pollution generated by public transportation and stimulus for the use of it, the increase of charging points for electric cars and the support for a circular economy perspective.

7. TRANSPORTATION

Procure a rational, accessible, safe and energy-efficient public transportation system, while promoting strategies to reduce unnecessary use of other uses of transportation such as teleworking, flexible working arrangements and time at home.

8. AFFORDABILITY

Plan to facilitate access to services and benefits to families, especially those in vulnerable situations, including youth, persons with disabilities and older persons; design strategies to secure the value of the urban area through adequate benefits and tackling homelessness; develop smart intergenerational living arrangements with shared services, efficient energy-saving, flexible buildings and care provisions.

9. LEISURE AND TOURISM

Fostering active engagement in the volunteering sector to preserve, promote and restore the cultural heritage of the city for the wellbeing of the family; facilitate access to cultural and sports activities for all family members and their needs through shared experiences, special prices, ad-hoc exhibitions and locations for museums, theaters, etc.,

10. FAMILIES IN VULNERABLE SITUATIONS

Establish specific programs to recognize the value of unpaid work and care, and address the basic needs of families in vulnerable situations, especially those at risk of social exclusion, due to their structure such as single-parent families, large families and migrant families, by using adequate tools to evaluate the vulnerability of families.

TO ENSURE THE INTENT OF THIS PLEDGE IS REALIZED, we commit to submitting a Monitoring Report every year before the 15th May to be presented to the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs by the International Federation for Family Development secretariat, with information of the previous year on the progress made in the 10 points mentioned above