The group of 30 urban leaders selected to attend the week in Mexico City work in the fields of urbanism, transport, mobility, planning, education, procurement, architecture, public policy, parks and recreation and infrastructure, among many others. They are spending the week focusing on specific challenges they face in their cities related to young children and caregivers and gaining tools and strategies to improve conditions and policies.
Mexico City becomes an urban classroom as municipal leaders across Latin America arrive at the Tecnologico de Monterrey
Urban leaders representing ten cities from 7 countries across Latin America arrive in Mexico City for the inaugural cohort of the Urban95 Academy Latin America Programme residence week.
Urban leaders tour Mexico City
U95 A Latin American Programme participants touring Mexico city's Historic District
The cohort includes teams from Cuenca, Ecuador; Comuna de Independencia, Chile; La Ceja, Colombia; Medellin, Colombia; Merida, Mexico; Mexicali, Mexico; Montevideo, Uruguay; Niteroi, Brazil; General San Martin, Argentina and Puerto Varas, Chile.
The Urban95 Academy Latin American Programme is an executive education programme, which is a collaboration between the Van Leer Foundation, Fundacion FEMSA, Tec de Monterrey and LSE Cities, invites participants to explore the city through a care lens, with visits to municipal projects like the UTOPIAS in Iztapalapa (units of Transformation and Organization for Inclusion and Social Harmony) and PILARES in Yancuic (Points of Innovation, Freedom, Art, Education and Knowledge), centered on systems of care, focusing on how to make urban space more inclusive, secure, equal and sustainable.
During the week, participants will analyse the local challenges they brought to the academy and investigate the barriers to change using various approaches including behavioural science, communication, values mapping, trust building and government integration.
Many cities in this cohort are working towards incorporating existing pilot projects in the urban realm like improving spaces surrounding schools and making pedestrian infrastructure more accessible, into broader strategic plans that embed these interventions into policies and programmes. These ten cities join a network of over 400 municipalities across the world who have graduated from the Urban95 Academy global programme.
