Local authorities: Global and regional networks

Local authorities: Global and regional networks
(Coordinator Comment)

The largest network of local governments is the United Cities and Local Governments, which was founded in 2004 as a merger of the previously most important networks, the United Towns Organisation, the International Union of Local Authorities, and Metropolis.

The UCLG does take up the issue of the culture of peace. For example, in the fall of 2007, there was a UCLG meeting in Barcelona about the role of cities in peace-building. A main thrust of the meeting concerned solidarity actions by cities in the North with cities engaged in post-conflict peace-building in the South. But there was some explicit concern as well with building a culture of peace within participating cities.

The UCLG has seven regional organizations of cities and towns for AFrica, Asia-Pacific, Euro-Asia, Europe, Latin America, Middle East/West Asia, North America, as well as a section called Metropolitan which corresponds to the previous organization Metropolis.