After the World Administrative Cities Forum held in Sejong, the administrative capital of the Republic of Korea, in 2017, we as the members of the World Administrative Cities Association and the participant cities of the Inaugural General Assembly, gathered in Ankara on 5 September 2018, on the occasion of establishing World Administrative Cities Association with the predetermined theme; “Urban Regeneration Projects”, Smart Cities” and “Best Practices of the Administrative Cities”.
The Statute of the World Administrative Cities Association and accordingly, the members of the Executive Committee and the General Assembly were determined; Ankara city is elected unanimously for the 2018-2020 Term Presidency of the Association. The city which is going to host the 2nd General Assembly which will be held in 2020 is going to be determined in the upcoming Executive Committee Meeting. What’s more, in the Inaugural General Assembly, Tehran, Mogadishu, Niamey, Maputo, Sarajevo and Nicosia cities have made an application to be a member of the Association. Also, the decision in regard to their membership is going to be discussed and ratified in the upcoming Executive Committee meeting.
The issue of urban regeneration, one of the permanent solution methods for rapid population growth and settlement problems which are considered as the most challenging problems of cities today, was discussed thoroughly; especially the need to address these projects more human-focused and produce solutions that prioritize the common mind with the active participation of the citizens, was affirmed.
In this age of information, the concept of smart city is a rising value in the city agenda, so within this respect, the positive contribution of the application of information technologies to almost all areas of city services for the improvement of the city’s welfare and living standards, and its possible consequences were emphasized.
Accordingly, we, as the participants of this meeting, have agreed on the following issues;
In consideration of the above mentioned, we hereby declare that we will support all kinds of initiatives launched by the World Administrative Cities Association (WACA) in order to achieve the aforementioned objectives with common understanding and cooperation.
05.09.2018, Ankara