From April 6 to 13, the 7th World Urban Forum was held in Medellin, Colombia. Meanwhile, the side event “Urban Innovation and Inclusive Governance” was co-hosted by UCLG, Metropolis and the Guangzhou Award to promote the 2nd Guangzhou Award.

On the afternoon of April 9, over 100 city managers, NOG representatives, experts and scholars attended the side event “Urban Innovation and Inclusive Governance”. The speakers, including the Metropolis Secretary General Alain Le Saux, former Chief of the Best Practices and Local Leadership Program Wandia Seaforth, representative of the 100 Resilient Cities Initiative of Rockefeller Foundation Andrew Salkin, discussed the experience of the 1st award assessment and the trend of urban innovation development, etc. The winning and short-listed cities of the 1st Guangzhou Award, such as Medellin, Vancouver and Aguascalientes, shared their innovative initiatives on the side event and demonstrated the importance of urban innovation and excellent management for the urban transformation and sustainability.