Panel - Cities: Sustainable mobility as an opportunity for a transformative recovery

The cities of Latin America and the Caribbean are home to 82% of the population of the region. This situation, usually seen as a “problem”, hides the great potential offered by urban demands in providing solutions that improve the quality of life and foster the industrial development in a sustainable way. Currently, mobility has become a highly relevant factor for the quality of life and access to opportunities, for the competitiveness of cities and for the goals of reducing emissions, among other aspects. However, collective public transport, the main mean of locomotion for a sustainable mobility, faces a delicate situation in the region. The service provision model shows signs of exhaustion in addition to a chronic problem of financial sustainability. The transition to low carbon emission solutions, especially electric mobility, is also an important opportunity for the regional industry and a challenge for its high costs and other constraints. Large cities are such important sources of consumption that, in some cases, they would even be able to change the production patrons at the country or city-region level. In particular, the demand for typically urban services such as public transport requires investments in infrastructure and transport equipment that could, by themselves, trigger a series of virtuous effects at the local level. All this requires a necessary coordination of public policy, financing strategies, regulatory aspects, among other elements, to bridge the economic, social and environmental gaps. In short, as in the approach proposed by ECLAC, the Big Push for Sustainability.

Event on the route to the International Habitat Summit for Latin America and the Caribbean 2022.