Mainstreaming migration into urban planning: a key success factor for leaving no one behind

The New Urban Agenda as well as the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development recognise the development potential of good migration governance. Within a global context of increasing globalisation, mobility and urbanisation, this is particularly important for cities, as first responders to migration, for it is at the local level where the drivers and consequences of migration are most strongly felt. Cities themselves are successfully taking on this role and IOM and its partners have been empowering them through the annual Global Mayoral Forum on Human Mobility, Migration and Development and the 2017 Global Conference on Cities and Migrants in Mechelen. Such platforms are providing city administrations and their associations and networks with the opportunity to raise their voices and share their expertise, and expectations, within the current debate about global governance of migration, in particular in relation to their efforts to achieve the migration related targets of the New Urban Agenda and the SDGs. The event will build on IOM, UN Habitat, UCLG’s critical role in empowering cities as key actors in migration governance for sustainable urban development within the context of the ongoing discussions for the adoption of the Global Compact on Migration. The event will therefore present local leaders’ recommendations outlined in the declaration of the Mechelen Conference on Cities and Migration. Moreover, it will be a space to showcase good practices and innovative training tools developed for ensuring policy coherence in migration governance for the achievement of the New Urban Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals.