Marmara Urban Forum (Marmara International City Forum-MARUF400), where more than 100 speakers from all over the world will attend and more than 21 sessions will be held, will be organized by Marmara Municipalities Union (MBB) on 1-2-3 October 2021. More than 400 speakers from all over the world will be hosted and more than 100 sessions will be held in the forum, whose main topic is “Cities that produce solutions: rethink, act together”. The forum, where participation is free, will also host various activities such as trainings, workshops, networking meetings, and online exhibitions.
Tahir Büyükakın: “The Most Important Agenda of MARUF Will Be The Climate Crisis and Disasters”
Marmara Union of Municipalities (MBB) President and Kocaeli Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Tahir Büyükakın said that the Marmara Urban Forum (MARUF21) to be held in October will focus on issues that local governments should act together. Büyükakın said, "One of the most important issues will be the global climate crisis, and the other will be disaster management."
President Büyükakın pointed out that a country cannot cope with climate change alone, and that this problem can be solved globally, by joint action. Giving the example of mucilage, Büyükakın said, “The issue of sea saliva in the Marmara Sea is essentially one of the effects of global climate change. Sea water must rise above a certain temperature for the formation of sea saliva. Global climate change is starting to sound the alarm now. In the past, academics were following the subject, saying something. We wanted to be aware of the society, but now we started to see with our eyes. We started to notice the increase in temperature values and to feel the change in climate.” said.
“We will talk about rethinking the way we do business and how to increase our capacity to act together.”
Noting that the municipalities in Turkey have many issues to say at MARUF21, Büyükakın said, “Pandemic is actually a crisis management issue in a sense. If we do not take action, we will move towards a place where we will face serious risks that present humanity with great challenges. Therefore, MARUF will be a framework where we rethink the way we do business and talk about how we can increase our capacity to act together. There are very serious contributions made so far, but these contributions will be much more valuable in terms of their future effects. Everyone; I invite both local and foreign academics, policy makers and politicians to take part in this platform and to participate in the MARUF event much more strongly. Great things will happen here.” made the statement.
More than 80 Partners Meet at Maruf21 for the Construction of the Future
In addition to international partners such as UN-HABITAT, Columbia Global Centers Istanbul, Energy Cities, CDP, many NGOs such as the Ministry of Environment and Urbanization, TÜBİTAK MAM, İKSV, Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, Kocaeli Metropolitan Municipality, Istanbul Technical University, Mimar Sinan University and Yıldız Technical University. , the university, the development agency and the municipality are among the supporters of MARUF21.
Re-Think, Act Together (Re-Think, Co-Act)
Problems such as climate change, destruction of natural resources, discrimination, increase in inequalities and poverty on the one hand threaten the city and its residents, on the other hand, it becomes even more complex with the current urbanization practices. Existing governance mechanisms and paradigms fall short of developing a just and equitable solution for residents, particularly migrants, the poor, children, the elderly and other vulnerable groups. Global-scale crises, such as epidemics and forced migrations that rapidly and greatly affect societies and individuals, show that there is a need to rethink the processes and administrative tools we have experienced so far in cities. On the other hand, the prevalence, depth and cost of the problems necessitate acting together with all stakeholders. The first step in creating healthy, resilient, inclusive, creative, innovative and sustainable cities, which are increasingly vital in the face of these problems, is to realize our need to rethink and act together on these issues.
6 Basic Axes
The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed the necessity of reconsidering the issues of individual and social life on an urban, national and global scale. The epidemic caused disruptions in health services, unemployment, economic losses, deepening of income inequality, and problems in the education and culture sectors all over the world. This process, in which expectations and habits from the city are questioned, also reshapes the perceptions of the city. The priorities in cities, which are mostly determined by speed and mobility, change with the slowdown and even stagnation process. Many issues such as home and office use, remote working practices, use of public spaces, transportation management, income inequality and urban health opportunities have become the main issues that need to be rethought.
Marmara Urban Forum, which offers an opportunity to transform the lessons learned from the epidemic process that has shaken cities around the world into teachings and to initiate radical transformations, will focus on six main axes that will feed each other. Throughout the Forum, around the main axes determined as “Healthy”, “Inclusive”, “Innovative”, “Resilient”, “Sustainable” and “Creative” cities; A dialogue, production and sharing platform will be established with local governments, public sector, private sector, non-governmental organizations, universities and all other stakeholders.
Be the first to comment