19 March 2019Athens | Greece
Proceedings from the7th OECD Roundtable of Mayors and MinistersMAYORS, MINISTERS, MEGATRENDS:PRINCIPLES FOR COLLECTIVE ACTION
Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities (CFE)
About the OECD Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities (CFE)
The OECD Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities provides comparative statistics,analysis and capacity building for local and national actors to work together to unleash the potentialof entrepreneurs and small and medium-sized enterprises, promote inclusive and sustainable regionsand cities, boost local job creation, and support sound tourism policies.
www.oecd.org/cfe @OECD_local
About the OECD Roundtable of Mayors and Ministers
The OECD Roundtable of Mayors and Ministers builds on a long tradition of policy dialogue on urbandevelopment at the OECD.
Established in 2007, the Roundtable aims to bridge the policy gaps in tackling climate change andspurring green growth, mobilising investment, creating jobs and ensuring sustainable, inclusive urbangrowth.
Previous Roundtables have taken place in Madrid (2007), Milan (2008), Paris/OECD (2010), Chicago(2012), Marseille (2013) and Mexico City (2015).
Visit our website: www.oecd.org/urban/roundtable
Introduction 4
Session 1Co-designing urban policies across levels of government 5
Session 2Tools for bridging national and local urban policies 7
Charting the way forwardA pledge to support the implementation of the OECD Principles on Urban Policy 9
List of participants 11
Acknowledgements 16
Table of contents
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The Roundtable discussions were divided into three main blocks:
• In the first block, participants debated on how national and cityauthorities could co-design urban policies across levels ofgovernment. Building on the past 20 years of expertiseaccumulated in the OECD Working Party on Urban Policy,Mayors and Ministers shared practical examples of NationalUrban Policies for cities of all sizes.
• In the second block, the discussion moved on to innovative toolsand new forms of partnerships that would allow Mayors andMinisters to work effectively together on implementing a newgeneration of National Urban Policies.
• In the third block, Mayors and Ministers concluded theRoundtable by discussing how to use the OECD Principles onUrban Policy in their own country.
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Introduction
During the 7th OECD Roundtable of Mayors and Ministers, organised in partnership with theMinistry of Economy and Development of Greece and the City of Athens, ministers andmayors exchanged ideas, experiences and good practices from around the world on:
• What reforms should be introduced to existing National Urban Policies to better preparefor and address megatrends?
• How can Mayors and Ministers work closely together in co-designing a new generation ofNational Urban Policies?
• What types of innovative tools and new forms of partnerships can help Mayors andMinisters work effectively together to access the needed resources?
Participants included 20 ministers and vice-ministers and 8 high-level officials from nationalgovernments; 27 mayors and vice-mayors; 9 representatives from international andsupporting institutions; and 3 city observers.
Session 1 – Co-designing urban policies across levels of government
OECD Principles on Urban Policy
Building on the experience and lessonsfrom the past 20+ years of work on citiesand urban policy, the OECD Principles onUrban Policy provide concise guidancefor national and local governments to gettheir cities right.
The Principles are organised around “3S”:Scale of policy action; Strategy to buildsmart, sustainable and inclusive cities;and Stakeholders engaged in co-designed, co-implemented and co-monitored urban policy.
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Globalisation, digitalisation, climate change and demographic shifts – today’s cities arefacing complex and interrelated megatrends. Such transformative trends cannot be dealt within a haphazard and fragmented manner. To shape an inclusive and sustainable urban future,holistic National Urban Policies (NUPs) need to help local governments seize the newopportunities provided by megatrends.
National Urban Policies (NUPs) can set clear policy directions to transform megatrendsinto opportunities to boost local and national development. Among other countries, Argentina,Belgium, Canada, Chile, the Czech Republic, France, Indonesia, Japan, and Spain have anexplicit NUP framework -- although the stage of development varies from one country to another.An NUP does not replace local urban policies, but rather complements them to promotesustainable urban development.
NUPs needs to embrace cities of all sizes, including small- and medium-sized cities. In manycases, like in Estonia, smaller cities have an ageing and shrinking population. Smaller cities oftenlack skilled workforces to support economic growth and they struggle to remain competitive atthe national scale.
Facilitating the exchange of lessons, knowledge and experience can help enhance thecapacity of cities to face global challenges. For example, Poland is formally establishing anational urban forum for cities to share experiences. France has created a network of mid-sizecities (of approximately 100,000 inhabitants) to facilitate the exchange of experiences andimprove local projects.
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Urban policies that capitalise onthe comparative advantages oflocalities is critical to face globalchallenges. Due to their proximityto citizens and other groups such asthe academia, local governments arewell-suited to ensure publicparticipation in urban development.For example, Braga (Portugal) isworking closely with academicgroups on how to improve urbanservices. However, as the experienceof Rotterdam (The Netherlands)suggests, it is also important to statehow local projects contribute toachieving national developmentgoals.
There is growing awareness ofthe importance of empoweringneighbourhoods in drivingdevelopment forward. Cities aremade up of various neighbourhoodsand sometimes considered not“local” enough. Devolving someresources to the community levelhelps give people a say in publicservice delivery. The city of Glasgow(UK), for example, provides fundingto non-profit community-basedorganisations that work directlywith citizens through the GlasgowCommunity Plan. Suchorganisations can harness theirexperience on issues such as digitalinclusion and participatorybudgeting.
An effective urban policy to facemegatrends should alsoconsider the importance ofrural areas. As the experience ofSweden shows, working acrosspolitical boundaries is critical toharness the interdependenciesbetween urban and rural areas.Similarly, France has createdmetropolitan authorities tostrengthen co-operation for urbandevelopment. Through thisscheme, the national governmentworks with large cities to helpthem integrate rural areas intotheir development strategies.
National governments andcities regard decentralisationand solid multi-levelgovernance practices as keyelements to reduce regionalimbalances in confrontingmegatrends and boosteconomic growth. Greece, forinstance, called for adequatemechanisms to be put in place tofacilitate work across silos andacross tiers of government.
Session 2 – Tools for bridging national and local urban policies
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Implementing National UrbanPolicies (NUPs) requiresinnovative techniques toenhance financing, workacross levels of government,and engage differentstakeholders. Given the majorrole that local governments playin making NUPs happen on theground, it is essential for nationaland regional governments tobetter understand different localcontexts and support localactions. However, the nationalgovernment should primarily actat the local level when theirintervention can bring additionalbenefits, according to theprinciple of subsidiarity asrecalled by United Cities andLocal Governments.
National governmentssometimes need to work ontheir legal framework toempower local governmentson development issues,provide them with technicalsupport and ensure a fairershare of resources. In Europe,according to the Council ofEuropean Municipalities andRegions, 60% of publicinvestment is conducted bysubnational levels of government.This calls for more local policiesto empower municipalities toreach the 2030 goals.
Bridging national and localpolicies also calls forinvestment in innovation. Citiesare laboratories for testingsolutions for complex localchallenges that could eventuallybe scaled up to national level.Cities are the platform for theinnovation economy as most ofthe innovations are taking placeat the city level. In somecountries, digitalisation andurbanisation are drivinginnovation and entrepreneurshipin cities. The experience ofEstonia and Korea suggests thatICT and digital technologies openup new ways of service delivery,create new employment andmake better investments inregional infrastructure. To facemegatrends, cities need to bringtheir citizens to the centre of theproblem-solving process.
National governments canenact regulation thatestablishes indicators to helpcities measure progress on theimplementation of globalcommitments such as theSDGs. In the experience ofIndonesia, for example, theseindicators need to be wellintegrated into the developmentagendas at all levels ofgovernment.
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Co-financing is a major tool toimplement co-ordinated national,regional and local developmentplans and investment. It offers away to ‘do more with less’ in a contextwhere public investment resourceshave often been reduced. Co-financing allows governments toshare risks and responsibilities andalign policies. Nevertheless, co-financing mechanisms need to beadapted to the local context and, insome cases, cities need to findalternative sources of funding tomatch national resources. Examplesinclude:
• In the Netherlands, the nationalgovernment commits to contributeto the financing of local projects aslong as those resources arematched by local authorities.
• In Switzerland, all investmentprojects are co-financed bynational and regional governmentsdemanding authorities at differentlevels to work together.
• In Argentina, the Ministry of theInterior, Public Works and Housingtransfers a large share of its budgetto subnational governments for therealisation of public works. TheMinistry also provides assistance tosubnational governments to designinvestment projects and seekfinance from international donors.
• In Morocco, local governmentsfinance 25% of investment inurban projects while the nationalgovernment finances 75%. Thisscheme has facilitatedcollaboration for theimplementation of urban policies.
• In Korea, regions can requestfunds from the nationalgovernment to support their localprojects, but there should be aquality return on nationalinvestment.
• Ireland, as part of its economic andspatial planning, has createdspecific funds (i.e. climate fund,disruptive technology fund, urbanregeneration fund) to help citiesachieve the Ireland 2040 goals.
• In Poland, national andsubnational governments co-finance some public investments ona 50-50 basis.
Co-financing also requires budgetflexibility in subnationalexpenditure. For instance, Madrid(Spain), as other cities, needsflexibility to spend its own resourcesin projects it considers as critical, butalso to acquire the necessary capacity(i.e. human capital) to implementthese projects.
Charting the way forward: A pledge to support the implementation of the
OECD Principles on Urban Policy
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Mayors, Ministers and leaders from public, private and non-profitorganisations backed the OECD Principles on Urban Policy through theAthens Multi-Stakeholder Pledge. They invited the OECD to support theimplementation of the Principles through data and evidence, policy advice,user-friendly tools and leveraging OECD platforms and networks to shareexperiences.
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On behalf of Mayors, Ministers and leadersfrom public, private and non-profitorganisations, Vincent Fouchier, Chair ofthe OECD Working Party on Urban Policy,delivered the pledge to Angel Gurría, OECDSecretary General, and emphasised thecollective efforts from national delegates,experts and other stakeholders over thepast 20 years, which fed into the process toco-produce the Principles.
The OECD Principles on Urban Policy were co-developed in a bottom-up process with thecontribution of the following stakeholder groups:
List of participants
Hosts
OECDMr. Ángel GurríaSecretary-GeneralOECD
Mr. Ulrik Vestergaard KnudsenDeputy Secretary-GeneralOECD
Ms. Lamia Kamal-ChaouiDirector, Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and CitiesOECD
GreeceMr. Yannis DragasakisDeputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and DevelopmentGreece
Mr. Georgios KaminisMayor of Athens, Greece
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Ms. Juliette FosterTV and Radio Presenter, Magnus Communication
Moderator
Ministers and Heads of DelegationArgentinaMs. Marina KlemensiewiczSecretary of Urban Infrastructure, Ministry of the Interior, Public Works, and Housing
CanadaMr. James MeddingDeputy Minister and President, Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario
ChileMr. Felipe SalaberryVice Minister of Regional Development
ColombiaMr. Victor Javier Saavedra MercadoDeputy Minister of Housing, Ministry of Housing, City and Territory
EstoniaMr. Janek MäggiMinister of Public Administration
FranceMr. Hugo BévortDirector of Territorial Strategies, Ministry of Territorial Cohesion
GermanyMr. Michael MartenHead of Division H III 4 Regional Policy; Structural Change; Urban Development of the Federal Ministry of the Interior, Building andCommunity
GreeceMr. Yannis DragasakisDeputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Development
HungaryMr. Gábor GionState Secretary for Financial Policy Affairs, Ministry of Finance
IcelandMr. Sigurður Ingi JóhannssonMinister of Transport and Local Government
IndonesiaH.E. Bambang BrodjonegoroMinister of National Development Planning
IrelandMs. Maria GrahamAssistant Secretary, Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government
JapanMr. Fumihiko YukiVice-Minister for Land, Infrastructure and Hokkaido Development. Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism
KazakhstanMr. Dauren ZhambaibekDirector of the Department of Regional Development, Ministry of National Economy
KoreaMr. Kyung Hun JeongDeputy Minister for Territorial and Urban Development
LatviaMr. Rinalds MuciņšSecretary of State, Ministry of Environmental Protection and Regional Development
LithuaniaMr. Tautvydas TamuleviciusVice-Minister, Ministry of the Interior
MoroccoMr. Abdelahad Fassi FehriMinister of Land, Urban Planning, Housing and Local Development
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Ministers and Heads of Delegation (continued)
NetherlandsMr. Chris KuijpersDirector-General for Governance, Spatial Planning and Housing, Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations
PolandMr. Jerzy KwiecińskiMinister of Investment and Economic DevelopmentPortugal Mr. Nelson De Souza, Minister for Planning
RomaniaMr. Alin-Virgil ChirilăState Secretary for European Affairs, Ministry of Regional Development and Public Administration
SloveniaMs. Janja Kreitmayer McKenzieSecretary, EU Coordination and internationalAffairs Service, Ministry for the Environment and Spatial Planning
SpainMr. José Ignacio Sánchez AmorState Secretary of Territorial Policy
SwedenMs. Jennie NilssonMinister for Rural Affairs
SwitzerlandMr. Eric JakobAmbassador & Head of the Directorate of Economic Promotion, State Secretariat for Economic Affairs
TurkeyDr. Cetin Ali DonmezDeputy Minister of Industry and Technology
United KingdomMr. Stephen Paul JonesDirector, Cities and Local Growth, Department for Business, Innovation and Industrial Strategy
United StatesMr. Dennis AlvordDeputy Assistant Secretary for Regional Affairs, performing the non-exclusive duties of the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Economic Development
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Mayors and City RepresentativesAix-Marseille-Provence (Bouc Bel Air), FranceMayor Richard Mallié
Athens, GreeceMayor Georgios Kaminis
Bilbao, SpainVice Mayor Gotzone Sagardui
Bologna, ItalyMayor Virginio Merola
Braga, PortugalMayor Ricardo Rio
Bristol, UKDeputy Mayor and Councillor Craig Cheney
Budapest, HungaryDistrict Mayor Gábor Tamás Nagy
Chefchaouen, MoroccoMayor Mohamed Sefiani
Curridabat, Costa RicaMayor Alicia Borja Rodríguez
Fukuoka, JapanMayor Sōichirō Takashima
Glasgow, UKMayor Susan Aitken
Madrid, SpainDeputy Mayor Mauricio Valiente
Maribor, SloveniaDeputy Mayor Samo Peter Medved
Mérida, MexicoMayor Renán Barrera Concha
Pontevedra, Spain Mayor Miguel Anxo Fernández Lores
Porto, PortugalMayor Rui Moreira
Quillota, ChileMayor Luis Mella
Renca, ChileMayor Claudio Castro
Reykjavik, IcelandMayor Dagur Bergþóruson Eggertsson
Rotterdam, NetherlandsMayor Ahmed Aboutaleb
Santa Monica, USMayor Gleam Davis
Singapore (South East) Mayor Mohamad Maliki Osman
Sintra, PortugalMayor Basílio Horta
Tampere, FinlandVice Mayor Aleksi Jäntti
Thetford Mines, CanadaMayor Marc-Alexandre Brousseau
Toyama, JapanMayor Masashi Mori
Umeå, SwedenMayor Marie-Louise Rönnmark
Hamburg, GermanyDr. Annette TabbaraSecretary of State
Vancouver, CanadaDirector Marnie McGregorInternational Relations and Strategic Partnerships
Vienna, AustriaOmar Al-RawiMember of City Council and Regional Parliament
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Mr. Vincent FouchierChair, OECD Working Party on Urban Policy (Aix-Marseille-Provence Metropole)
Mr. Joaquim Oliveira-MartinsDeputy Director, Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities
Ms. Aziza AkhmouchHead of Division, Cities, Urban Policies, and Sustainable Development
Ms. Karen MaguireActing Head of Division, Local Employment, Skills, Social Innovation
Mr. Rudiger AhrendHead of Section, Economic Analysis, Statistics & Multilevel Governance
Ms. Soo-Jin KimHead of Urban Policies and Reviews Unit
Ms. Sena SegbedziActing Coordinator, Champion Mayors Initiative
Mr. Oscar Huerta MelchorProject Manager
Ms. Delphine ClavreulCounsellor
Mr. François IglesiasCommunications and Publications Co-ordinator
Ms. Pilar PhilipPublications and Events Co-ordinator
Ms. Kate BrooksCommunity Manager and Content Editor
Ms. Marie-France ChouinardProgramme Officer, Permanent Delegation of Canada to the OECD
Ms. Sophie GérardAttaché, Permanent Delegation of Belgium to the OECD (Wallonia-Brussels representation)
OECD Secretariat and Permanent Delegations to the OECD
International organisations and supporting institutions
Mr. James AndersonDirector, Government Innovation ProgramsBloomberg Philanthropies
Mr. Frédéric VallierSecretary-General, Council of EuropeanMunicipalities and Regions
Ms. Susan GoeranssonDirector, Head of Municipal and EnvironmentalInfrastructure, European Bank of Reconstruction and Development
Mr. Karl-Heinz LambertzPresident, European Committee of the Regions
Ms. Corina CrețuCommissioner for Regional and Urban Policy, European Union
Dr. George McCarthyPresident and CEO, Lincoln Institute
Ms. Emilia SaizSecretary-General, UCLG
Mr. Brian GallagherPresident and CEO, United Way Worldwide
Mr. Leo Horn-PhathanothaiHead of WRI London Office and Directorfor Strategy and Partnerships at Ross Center for Sustainable Cities, World Resources Institute
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Acknowledgements
The 7th OECD Roundtable of Mayors and Ministers was organised by the OECDCentre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities (CFE) led by Lamia Kamal-Chaoui. The event was co-ordinated by Soo-Jin Kim, Head of the Urban Policies andReviews Unit, and Oscar Huerta Melchor, Project Manager, under the supervision ofAziza Akhmouch, Head of the Cities, Urban Policies and Sustainable DevelopmentDivision, and with the invaluable help of Natalia Altman, Kate Brooks, Klara Fritz,Mia Gruget, Sena Segbedzi, Vu Tran, Laura Valdés, and Sam Whittlesey.
The OECD Secretariat would like to warmly thank all Mayors, Ministers, Heads ofDelegations and City Representatives who participated in the Roundtable, and theco-hosts for their excellent support: Yannis Dragasakis, Deputy Prime Minister andMinister of Economy and Development of Greece, and Georgios Kaminis, Mayor ofAthens.
The OECD Secretariat is grateful for the co-operation and support of officials inGreece who contributed to the realisation of this event. Special thanks are due toPanagiotis Exarchos, Maria Logotheti, Thomas Katsadouros and Vicky Chyta from thecity of Athens; and Maria Kostopoulou, Anastasia Zarkopoulou and Marina Koutsourifrom the Ministry of Economy and Regional Development. The OECD is also thankfulfor the continuous assistance of the Greek Permanent Delegation, notablyAmbassador Rania Antonopoulou and Dimitra Xynou.
Thanks are due to several colleagues from the OECD Secretariat for theircontribution: Alexandra Campbell, Antonio Canamas Catala, Delphine Clavreul,Jeanette Duboys, Alain Dupeyras, André Eychenne, Amanda Gautherin, TakuHoniden, François Iglesias, Baesung Kim, Karen Maguire, Stefano Marta, TadashiMatsumoto, Debra Mountford, Joaquim Oliveira Martins, Pilar Philip, OrianaRomano, and Anna Rubin.
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Cover illustration: © François Iglesias
The OECD Secretariat would like to express its gratitude to Darren Walker andXavier Briggs of the Ford Foundation for their continuous support to theorganisation of the 7th OECD Roundtable of Mayors and Ministers. Special thanks arealso conveyed to Don Chen, Jerry Maldonado, Jackie Burton and Any Kenyon.
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