Suzanne Trimel FOR IMMEDIATE USE
(212) 854-5573
smt4@columbia.edu
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY AND UNITED NATIONS
ANNOUNCE GLOBAL PARTNERSHIP TO IMPROVE CITIES
______________________________
Columbia to Provide Training, Analysis and Research
To Help Local Officials Worldwide
As a followup to last year's Habitat II City Summit, Columbia
University Tuesday (March 25) announced a research and training
partnership with the United Nations to unite scholars and public officials
worldwide in solving urban problems.
Columbia President George Rupp and U.N. Assistant Secretary-
General Wally N'Dow, head of the U.N. Centre for Human Settlements,
signed a formal agreement to jointly create the United Nations Habitat
Project at Columbia's School of International and Public Affairs.
Under the agreement, Columbia will lead a global academic effort to
accomplish the goals of the Habitat conference, according to Professor
Mark Gordon, director of the Habitat Project at Columbia. Columbia will
serve as the international center for research, training and information on
innovative approaches to urban problems, he said.
The centerpiece of the project, Professor Gordon said, will be the
training of local elected officials around the globe and an international
clearinghouse of innovative approaches to urban problems. In addition,
Columbia will create a network of 10 world-class universities to participate
in the project.
Under Habitat II's "Best Practices Initiative," urban success stories
worldwide will be analyzed by scholars and researchers at Columbia and
other institutions. These 'best practices' will then be assessed for how they
can be successfully repeated elsewhere. This analysis, along with expertise
provided by the U.N. Center for Human Settlements and Columbia faculty
and other scholars, will be available through the Internet.
"There is presently a wide range of information on 'best practices,'"
said Professor Gordon. "What is missing is the critical analysis of the
underlying forces that affect the potential for success in other places. This
will be of enormous potential use around the globe."
Another key goal of the project will be the development of a six-week
intensive training curriculum on international public management to
assist government and nonprofit officials who wish to implement the
recommendations of Habitat II but who lack the expertise to do so.
In addition, the Habitat project will establish:
- A formal research agenda to identify promising areas of study for
accomplishing Habitat goals
- An International Urban Fellows program to focus on solutions for
poverty, homelessness, unemployment, pollution and violence, among
other urban ills
- Case studies and a magazine on Habitat-related goals and
accomplishments
"This project offers a wonderful opportunity for collaboration between
the U.N. and Columba," President Rupp said. "We share an international
orientation and an urban agenda. As we work together to address the
pressing problems that confront cities worldwide we look forward to
establishing an internationally accessible database, to organizing common
research programs, to shaping curriculum for multiple settings, and to
forging a network of cooperating universities around the world."
Dr. N'Dow, who led the Habitat conference last June in Istanbul,
said: "The U.N. Habitat Project at Columbia will go a long way to realize the
hopes and goals of Habitat II. It is not enough for a conference, no matter
how successful, to pass resolutions of good intent. More important is their
implementation. I am delighted that Columbia will be our partner in
helping the international community meet one of the major challenges of
the new century."
Dean Anderson said: "The United Nations Habitat Project brings
together our longstanding links with the United Nations, our New York-
based urban policy programs and our international student body in novel
and enormously fruitful ways." The Project will be housed in the Barnard-
Columbia Center for Urban Policy.
Columbia will hold a competition among universities worldwide to
participate in the program and within two years expects to name the first of
10 university partners that will join a network of scholarly exchanges,
conferences, joint research and collaborative curriculum development and
training.
These University Centers of Excellence and Innovation will share
expertise across a range of areas, including public management, urban
affairs, environmental protection and social and economic inequality,
Professor Gordon said.
In addition, the Habitat Project will track the implementation of key
Habitat goals and accomplishments through periodic reports.
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