From The Mayor's Chair Summer 2024-25
Logan Chosen For United Nations Initiative
‘I am writing this column having just returned from Cairo, Egypt, where I was representing our great city at 2 important global conferences.
First, I spoke at the Quality of Life conference which was hosted by UN-Habitat, a United Nations organisation.
This led into a global conference called the World Urban Forum, where over 30,000 people attended in person and digitally.
But what does this have to do with City of Logan?
Logan is a pilot city as part of the UN Quality of Life initiative. This project seeks to measure and understand quality of life in different cities around the world.
As the only Australian city taking part in this project, it’s a great opportunity to put Logan on the map.
Everyone wants to have a better life. The first step in improving the lives of people in Logan going forward is to measure where we are at now.
The project uses data and feedback from locals to understand how we compare globally, but the part I like most is the local metrics which matter to us.
These local metrics include feelings of safety in our homes and moving around the city at night, availability of public transport, access to parks and natural spaces, and affordability and quality of housing.
Understanding what people love about living in Logan, and understanding which areas still need work, lets Council make better long-term and strategic decisions.
Information about our city is measured and benchmarked against cities around the world, and in a room with some of the brightest minds, we shared ideas about improving life for our residents.
I met and collaborated with representatives from places such as Vancouver (Canada), Riyadh (Saudi Arabi), Agadir (Morocco), Barcelona (Spain), Seoul (South Korea), Punaʻauia (French Polynesia), Udon Thani (Thailand), and Cairo (Egypt).
What amazed me is that despite the massive distance between us and the other pilot cities, we are facing similar challenges around the world with infrastructure, housing availability and cost, and people movement.
Without the global perspective, it can be easy to take for granted how great life is in Logan.
We are an ambitious and innovative young city, and the data backs this up.
When it comes to quality of life, we are a world leader in many ways, punching above our weight in areas like green space, air quality and safety.
In the coming months, I’ll be engaging with residents about what matters to them most and how we can work together to create a brighter future for our city.
By listening to our community, we can make decisions that are about the next 50 years instead of just the next 4 years.
With long-term goals in mind, I believe we can achieve great things and improve the quality of life for people in Logan.’
– Mayor Jon Raven
