The World Summit of Local and Regional Leaders will meet in Durban, South Africa, from 11-15 November 2019.

Convened by the United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG), the Summit will be the first to coincide with the implementation phase of global agendas such as the New Urban Agenda (NUA), the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the Sendai Framework, and the UNFCCC Paris Agreement on climate change.

Building on the century-old international movement of municipalities, this Summit of the world’s most influential local and regional leaders, councillors, local governments, partners, and actors implicated in the decision making of city and community life will provide an opportunity to present local and regional perspectives on progress in the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals and their impact at the local level and to evaluate the evolution of the role of local and regional governments in related international policy and governance.

There are 4 main tracks at the World Summit: The Town Hall Track, the Assembly Track, the Local4Action Track, and the Statutory Track, each of them designed to foster dialogues, to guide the debate and exchange process that will take place throughout the Summit, and to produce specific outcomes.

Led by civil society partners, the Town Hall track will be on key policy areas, such as Inclusive and Accessible Cities, Gender Equality, the Right to the City, Informality, or the Partnership for Urban Sustainable Development.

Outcomes from Assembly and Town Hall Tracks will be presented for adoption at a session of the World Assembly of Local and Regional Governments, convened by the Global Taskforce, and become a reference point for future policy development and advocacy. The World Assembly is the mechanism through which the local and regional government constituency deliberate and agree upon its political voice in the international agenda. For the first time, the overall outcome of the Congress will be a series of integrated policy recommendations intended to guide the renewal of the UCLG Strategy.

A Statutory Track, for UCLG Members only, will include a meeting of the World Council, the principal policy making body of the World Organization of United Cities and Local Governments.