Editing United Nations Global Compact (section)

==UN Global Compact – Cities Programme==

{{verification|date=July 2024}}

In  2001, the [[Melbourne|City of Melbourne]] proposed that cities, as well as corporations, should be allowed to join the UN Global Compact, arguing that this would provide a clear statement of a city's commitment to positive change, as well as motivating participation in international dialogue. The proposal was accepted, and the UN Global Compact - Cities Programme was launched in 2002. It was formed as an urban-focused component of the Global Compact with its International Secretariat initially located in [[Melbourne]], Australia. The aim of the programme is to improve urban life in cities throughout the world.

Melbourne became the first city to engage in the Global Compact in June 2001.

In April 2003, under the directorship of David Teller, a framework called the Melbourne Model was developed that went beyond the Ten Principles. It begins by drawing the resources of government, business and civil society into a cross-sector partnership in order to develop a practical project that addresses a seemingly intractable urban issue.<ref name="Teller">{{cite journal |last1=Teller |first1=David |title=United Nations Global Compact Cities Programme: The Melbourne Model: Solving Hard Urban Issues Together |journal=The Journal of Corporate Citizenship |date=2003 |issue=11 |pages=133–142 |doi=10.9774/GLEAF.4700.2003.au.00014 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/jcorpciti.11.133 |issn=1470-5001|url-access=subscription }}</ref> In 2007, the then Director, [[Paul James (academic)|Paul James]] (2007–2014) and his colleagues Andy Scerri and Liam Magee, took this methodology further by integrating the partnership model with a four-domain sustainability framework called '[[Circles of Sustainability]]'.<ref name="Amen">{{cite book |last1=James |first1=P. |last2=Scerri |first2=A. |editor-last1=Amen |editor-first1=M. |editor-last2=Toly |editor-first2=N. J. |editor-last3=McCarney |editor-first3=P. L. |editor-last4=Segbers |editor-first4=K. |title=Cities and Global Governance: New Sites for International Relations |chapter=Auditing cities through circles of sustainability |date=2011 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=9781315572086 |pages=111–135 |url=https://researchdirect.westernsydney.edu.au/islandora/object/uws:19512}}</ref><ref name="James">{{cite journal |last1=Scerri |first1=Andy |last2=James |first2=Paul |title=Communities of citizens and 'indicators' of sustainability |journal=Community Development Journal |date=2010 |volume=45 |issue=2 |pages=219–236 |doi=10.1093/cdj/bsp013 |jstor=44259118 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/44259118 |issn=0010-3802|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref name="Scerri"/>

In 2007, the  Secretariat moved from the [[Committee For Melbourne]] to the [[Global Cities Institute]] at [[RMIT University]], itself affiliated with [[UN-HABITAT]]. There, projects associated with city-based responses to global [[climate change]] and [[globalization]] became increasingly important. The Melbourne Model was further elaborated, with a sustainability indicators programme developed as a way of assessing and monitoring progress.<ref name="Scerri">{{cite journal |last1=Scerri |first1=Andy |last2=James |first2=Paul |title=Accounting for sustainability: combining qualitative and quantitative research in developing 'indicators' of sustainability |journal=International Journal of Social Research Methodology |date=February 2010 |volume=13 |issue=1 |pages=41–53 |doi=10.1080/13645570902864145 |s2cid=145391691 |url=https://doi.org/10.1080/13645570902864145 |language=en |issn=1364-5579|url-access=subscription }}</ref> In 2012, the [[Circles of Sustainability]] method was elaborated to guide a city or urban region through a rigorous assessment process. As one of the outcomes, it provides a figurative image of the overall sustainability of that city to illustrate its strengths and weaknesses.

In 2015, RMIT Professor Ralph Horne became the third director of the UN Global Compact Cities Programme and in February 2016 an Urban Thinkers Campus was organised at RMIT Melbourne in collaboration with World Vision International as part of the buildup to UN Habitat III. The theme of the Urban Thinkers Campus was Ethical Cities: Locking in Liveability. This was followed by the organisation of an Urban Innovation Forum on Ethical Cities in July 2016 in Barcelona, Spain as a collaboration between the UN Global Compact - Cities Programme, RMIT Europe and UN-Habitat. In Fall 2016, RMIT University and the UN Global Compact Cities Programme launched a Massive Open Online Course on FutureLearn with the title of Ethical Cities: Shaping the Future of Your City.<ref>{{cite web |title=Ethical Cities - Online Course |url=https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/ethical-cities |website=FutureLearn |access-date=17 July 2023}}</ref>

{{as of|August 2020}} there were 120 participants in the City Network, 85 of them in Latin America and the Caribbean. Milwaukee and San Francisco were the only U.S. member cities.<ref>UN Global Compact, Cities Programme, [https://citiesprogramme.org/participate/our-city-network/ Our City Network] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201021071027/https://citiesprogramme.org/participate/our-city-network/ |date=21 October 2020 }}, accessed 17 August 2020</ref> The Cities Programme ended in 2021.<ref>UN Global Compact, Cities Programme, [https://citiesprogramme.org/un-global-compact-cities-programme-closure/], accessed 17 May 2021</ref>