The Director General of Land and Urban Policy at the Ministry of Public Works, Mr. Félix Arias Goytre, Senior policy advisor of UN-HABITAT, Mr. Thomas Melin, and Barcelona's Deputy Mayor of Urban Habitat, Mr. Antoni Vives, opened the event. Mr. Campbell, Mr. Javier Leon de la Riva, the Mayor of Valladolid, and Mr. Samuel Okello, Mayor of the western Kenyan city of Kisumu were among the dignitaries.
Ms. Sara Hoeflich, of United Cities and Local Governments, said: "Learning is on both sides – from the north and the south – challenging a city in the north with problem solving for the south can help both cities learn." Other bodies at the meeting included IBM's Smarter Cites Initiative, the European Urban Knowledge Network, Metropolis, UCLG, the Africa Capacity Building Foundation, and academic institutions. |
