About Us

October 29 2017 marked an extraordinary day where seven Think Tanks from the global cities of Beijing, Shanghai, New York, Singapore, Hong Kong, Paris, and Seoul gathered in Shanghai to celebrate the establishment of the Global Urban Governance Think Tanks Alliance (GUGTTA).

We jointly recognize that:

A city stands as the epitome of modern human civilization and urban development. As the highest level of urban development, global cities have increasingly been thrown at the forefront of global dialogue and international cooperation. The better the city, the better the quality of life. However, as a consequence of rapid population growth and urbanization, a series of "urban diseases" including environmental degradation, unaffordable housing, dilapidated infrastructures and outdated transportation systems have emerged as major obstacles in achieving the sustainable development objectives for global cities around the world.

We strongly realize that:

In this current era of globalization, global cities constantly face new challenges in governance and development. We need a new platform where we can gather strength in numbers, strength in shared knowledge and strength in shared experience of global city governance. This new innovative platform will also help us to promote problem solving and innovation.

Innovation and creative thinking comes only with a strong network built on trust and cooperation. It is only when we work together and provide support as a think tank in the research of global urban governance that we can develop an alliance of a global city community to reap the benefits of improved urban living.

We promise that:

The alliance will be committed to problem solving on all issues related to urban governance. By bridging together research and practice, we will eventually achieve the vision of an “better city, better life”.

The alliance will use the advantages of the think tank platform to integrate all the global city governance resources. We will work together to find common solutions to address the current challenges of global city governance and use the platform to share these innovative solutions.

The alliance will pursue the common development goals of all members under the spirit of mutual cooperation and reciprocity.

Let us join hands and work together!