Quality of life of Madinah residents and enriching visitor experience highlighted in Cairo event

Saudi Gazette report

CAIRO — Mayor of Madinah Region and CEO of the Madinah Region Development Authority Eng. Fahad Albulihshi inaugurated the “Communication” event organized by the authority as part of the activities of the 12th World Urban Forum (WUF12) hosted by Cairo, Egypt. The event was organized by the United Nations Human Settlements Program (UN-Habitat) with the theme of “Localizing sustainable development goals and enhancing urban resilience.”

In his opening speech, Albulihshi stressed that cities bear the responsibility for implementing 65 percent of the Sustainable Development Goals through local efforts. He noted that the availability and quality of urban data is one of the most important challenges facing cities in their journey to achieve these goals. He pointed to the role of the communication event in highlighting the experience of Madinah, as it was one of the first Arab cities to issue its voluntary reviews.

Albulihshi reviewed two reports within a series of publications by the Madinah Region Development Authority that specialize in analyzing the level of livability and resilience against risks, which comes within the framework of the authority’s efforts to enhance the quality of life of residents and enrich the visitor experience. This is with the support and empowerment of Madinah Emir Prince Salman bin Sultan, who is also chairman of the Board of the authority, and Deputy Emir Prince Saud bin Khaled Al-Faisal, in line with the goals of Saudi Vision 2030.

In her keynote speech, Princess Nouf bint Mohammed Al-Saud, CEO of the King Khalid Foundation, stressed that cities need the combined efforts of the three sectors -government, private and non-profit- in addition to society to bring about effective change towards achieving sustainable development goals and building a flexible urban environment that meets the needs of the present and prepares to face the challenges of the future.

Princess Nouf pointed out that the cities of the Middle East and North Africa have made remarkable progress in their overall resilience in the past few years. “Saudi Arabia has a continuous effort in this regard through the ambitious transformation process and the vision based on urban development strategies, policies and programs through the contribution of the Saudi Cities Future Program to achieving sustainable urbanization and building cities that can achieve a balance between quality of life, economic competitiveness and environmental protection,” she said.

The first dialogue session, under the title “Arab cities and localizing the sustainable development goals”, which addressed the vital role of cities in achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and building resilient communities, in addition to the importance of cooperation in facing complex urban challenges and promoting sustainable development, and reviewing the voluntary local reviews of the city of Amman in Jordan, Madinah in Saudi Arabia, and Agadir in Morocco.

The second dialogue session was held under the title “Enhancing urban resilience through localizing the Sustainable Development Goals” and the session highlighted the strategies and best practices used by cities to enhance resilience in the face of environmental, social and economic challenges.

During the “Communication” event, the Madinah Region Development Authority also reviewed the “Manara” platform for urban data, which recently won the Best Geospatial Application 2024 Award at the National Geospatial Platform Forum. The session reviewed the “Madinah: A Liveable City of Peace” report, which aims to provide a comprehensive analysis of the standard of living in it and identify strengths and areas for improvement through urban policies to make Madinah a model to be emulated in sustainability, flexibility, inclusiveness and innovation, and achieve an ideal balance between society, environment and economy.

At the end of the event, the authority reviewed the “Madinah resilience: Towards a resilient future against risks” report, which aims to provide a comprehensive analysis of Madinah’s ability to withstand chronic, acute and emerging risks in accordance with international frameworks, build awareness among stakeholders and support government policies and decisions based on reliable data and indicators. The report pays special attention to the rapid urban growth witnessed by Madinah in light of the expected increase in the number of visitors according to the targets of the Saudi Vision 2030 programs.