On the occasion of the 1st World Heritage Cities Festival in Zacatecas, Dr. José Francisco Román Gutiérrez, Director of the Regional Institute of World Heritage in Zacatecas, participated today in Panel Discussion 3: Sustainable Development Goal (Sustainable Cities and Communities) and the New Urban Agenda.

He shared the panel with Carlos Tejada W., Project Coordinator for the UNESCO Office in Mexico; Juan Pablo O'Farril, National Disaster Response Advisor for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs; Genaro Javier Delgado Campos, Director of the University Program of Urban Studies at UNAM (National Autonomous University of Mexico); Eugenia De Grazia, Project Specialist for UN-Habitat in Mexico and Cuba; and Natalia Calero, Specialist for UN Women in Mexico.

In his remarks, the Director of the IRPMZ emphasized the need for World Heritage to be understood as an engine of development and highlighted the importance of social appropriation in this regard. Additionally, he pointed out the importance of understanding and working with the concept of habitability in relation to cultural practices, since the problems in the management of cities are not only technical in nature and also relate to the social dynamics of spaces.