The Conference seeks to stimulate debate and reflection on the importance of, and the key role played by, active citizens’ participation and local democratic governments in the modification of the negative trends of powerful, speculative interests that stand in the way of human rights, preventing tendencies the right to housing and the right to the city; while at the same time aligning the voice of those cities committed to realising the right to the city; the right of all inhabitants, both male and female, to live in cities that are more human, more habitable, more democratic, fairer and more solidary; and against the commodification thereof, which generates looting, segregation, gentrification and the destruction of the social fabric.

The Conference is to be organised around a series of plenary sessions, keynote speeches, round table debates based on thematic areas, territorial round tables based on the exchange of experiences, popular encounters inlocal districts, utopianroundtables, participatory innovation and creativity, cine- debate sessions, in which pride of place will be given to exchanges between participants. Parallel and organised networking activities may also be proposed by IOPD members; academic, political and municipal bodies, as well as the social networks and movements, which will then be selected by the programming committee on the basis of criteria of quality and diversity, and also depending on the availability of spaces.

Local actions will also be promoted in different cities throughout the year leading up to the 19th IOPD Conference, based on the different thematic areas to be dealt with at the Conference, cycles of conferences, cine-debates, workshops, seminars, etc. that reflect the plurality of the social and political actors involved. Likewise, at a worldwide level, the systematisation of experiences will be promoted, along with the contribution of theoretical inputs and remote interactive dialogues centred on the different thematic areas, concepts and approaches that are key to the stimulation of the debate. We invite all interested cities and local governments to promote and run workshops and seminars, or any other kind of events, throughout the world to debate these contents and, in this way, to enrich both the 2019 Conference and the Assembly.

Today, there are 1.2 billion young people aged 15 to 24 years, accounting for 16 per cent of the global population. The active engagement of youth in sustainable development efforts is central to achieving sustainable, inclusive and stable societies by the target date, and to averting the worst threats and challenges to sustainable development, including the impacts of climate change, unemployment, poverty, gender inequality, conflict, and migration. However, young people are almost three times more likely to be unemployed than adults and continuously exposed to lower quality of jobs, greater labor market inequalities, and longer and more insecure school-to-work transitions. In addition, women are more likely to be underemployed and under-paid, and to undertake part-time jobs or work under temporary contracts.

Traditionally organized by the Permanent Missions of Portugal and Sri Lanka, together with UNESCO, ILO and the Office of the Secretary-General’s Envoy on Youth, this year the UN’s observance of the WYSD will shed light on the mechanisms needed to operationalize lifelong learning.

The Youth Cafe and its members has hosted a range of events and taken part in the photo competition and story series to celebrate World Youth Skills Day.