In 2001 the United Nations established the World Urban Forum (WUF), the world’s premier conference on urban issues. When the 12^th WUF opens in Cairo, Egypt, on November 4^th, it will include an historic first, a Faith Pavilion.

WUF12’s Faith Pavilion is the latest development of a decade-long engagement and trust building between UN-Habitat and religious organizations spearheaded by the WEA. The pavilion provides a space and a platform for faith organizations, leaders, and practitioners to explicitly engage in dialogue about urban development from a religious perspective, learn from the global community of urban experts, practitioners, and agencies, as well as find ways to collaborate in designing, building, and funding sustainable urban development for the common good. 

With sessions on housing, resilience, creation care, social cohesion, and so on, the pavilion will showcase impactful, faith-based initiatives and foster cross-sector collaboration for the sustainable, inclusive, and just cities we need.  

Learn more here.

Looking ahead, we plan on hosting Faith Pavilions at all future WUF’s (every two years) and hosting a UN-Habitat Faith-Based Urban Thinkers Campus in the in-between years. If this is an area of interest, do consider submitting a presentation for the forthcoming Faith-Based Urban Thinkers Campus in 2025 (dates and submission details TBD) and/or participating in the Faith Pavilion at WUF13.  

For more information contact Chris Elisara at celisara@worldea.org. 

Did you manage to catch the LWWCN webinars on ‘Engaging Churches with Creation Care’ led by Kuki Rokhum and ‘Urban Placemaking’ led by Chris Elisara with others? Many have commented how helpful both these webinars were in providing handles and perspective in dealing with very real issues!

We’ll be sure to share the Urban Placemaking recording once we have it, but in the meanwhile, here are a few nuggets from that conversation:

“Christian Placemaking is a faith-based, community-engaged, and sustainable process of creating spaces that embody the principles of creation care, social and environmental justice, and holistic well-being. It seeks to honor the inherent dignity of every person, empower communities through participatory involvement, and reflect the values of God’s Kingdom in the built environment.” Chris Elisara

Helpful books on a Christian understanding of place and particularly urban spaces:

• Philip Sheldrake: The Spiritual City: Theology, Spirituality, and the Urban
• Craig G. Bartholomew: Where Mortals Dwell: A Christian View of Place for Today
• Eric O. Jacobsen: The Space Between
• Timothy Gorringe: A Theology of the Built Environment
• Philip Bess: Till We Have Built Jerusalem

For Christians who are interested in learning about urban solutions to climate change we recommend this free World Urban Campaign Urban Thinkers Campus from May 17 – 22. While this is not a Christian event, it is co-hosted by the WEA to provide an opportunity for bringing Christian voices into this important dialogue about the impact of climate change on cities and how to respond. We can both learn about this issue and contribute our insights and perspectives at this event. To learn more, register, or to submit a proposal for a session, go to this link. 

Urbanism, or New Urbanism should be of much greater concern for those of us in the creation care movement than it often is. More of us live in cities now around the world. How do we bring the message of creation care to city dwellers, and how can we redesign our cities so they are healthy, sustainable, and even, perhaps, beautiful?

The 3rd International Symposium on Religious Life held this week included a special event, the launch of the International Council of Faiths for Urbanism.

Following Habitat III and the ratification of the New Urban Agenda in 2016, the International Council of Faiths for Urbanism (ICFU) was founded in 2017 at the inaugural UN-Habitat Faith-Based Urban Thinkers Campus in Singapore. Filling an observable absence of faith-based involvement in the multi-year process leading up to Habitat III, the ICFU has developed over the past three years. Through attending UN-Habitat’s 9th and 10th World Urban Forums, co-hosting Faith-Based Urban Thinkers Campuses, and attending other international events, the ICFU has worked towards the fulfillment of its mission to be the highest global faith-based body specializing in representing the interests and concerns of diverse faith traditions regarding urban development in the international arena. As well as encouraging the grassroots engagement of faiths in their urban contexts. At this inaugural public launch event, the ICFU will share with the international community its vision and work, and how its focus on urbanism at all scales—cities, towns, and villages, and its engagement with urban policy and development contributes to enhancing both religious life in communities and the common good for all.

We don’t find a link for the new organization yet, but if you’re interested, contact Chris Elisara (celisara@worldea.org), who informs us that he was recently elected to the Secretariat of the UN Habitat World Urban Campaign as co-chair of the Civil Society Partners group. Congratulations, Chris!