Penn IUR Co-Director Eugenie Birch Elected Chair of the World Urban Campaign

MEDELLIN, COLOMBIA – April 8, 2014— Penn IUR Co-Director Eugenie Birch has been elected chair of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme’s World Urban Campaign (WUC), a global coalition of public, private, and civil society partners acting to promote sustainable urbanization.

Birch was elected chair of the WUC at UN-HABITAT’s 7th World Urban Forum (WUF7), the world’s premier conference on cities, held in Medellin, Colombia April 5-11. Previously, Birch served as co-chair of the WUC for four years. Birch was elected to her new role as chair for a two-year term ending in 2016.

Over the next two years, under Birch’s leadership, the WUC will help to shape the WUF7’s Post-2015 Development Agenda, a conceptual framework that addresses the critical interplay of equity, inclusive growth and sustainable urban development while also addressing human rights, inequality and gender disparities. Birch will also steer the WUC as it helps prepare for the Third United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development (Habitat III) in 2016, which aims to reinvigorate the global commitment to sustainable urban development.

The World Urban Forum (WUF) is organized by UN-HABITAT, a United Nations agency that promotes socially and environmentally sustainable cities with the goal of providing adequate shelter for all. WUF is held every two years to bring together leaders from government, NGOs, research, and the private sector to help solve problems of urban sustainability.   The World Urban Campaign was launched in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 2010, at UN-HABITAT’s 5th World Urban Forum.