What is the Living Together Observatory?

Living Together Observatory

What is the Living Together Observatory?

The International Observatory of Mayors on Living Together is an international network of cities that collectively committed to promote and expand collaborations between local governments in the field of living together. It is a result of the 2015 Living Together Summit in Montreal during which the founding members signed the Montreal Declaration.

The City of Düsseldorf is an active member since 2016!

What does „Living Together“ mean?

What does „Living Together“ mean?

„Living Together“ is by all means driven by the inhabitants of the member cities. The local governments strive to encourage common values which contribute to peace, democracy and social solidarity.  

An official definition was given in 2018 by the Standing Committee on Living Together of AMIF (Association Internationale des Maires Francophones):  

„Living together in the city refers to a dynamic process involving various stakeholders in order to foster inclusion and a sense of safety and belonging. Promoting Living Together means recognizing all forms of diversity, fighting against discrimination and working to facilitate peaceful co-existence among society’s members. To implement Living Together, local stakeholders must work together to identify values that contribute to positive interactions and social cohesion.”  

All members pursue becoming international prime examples in innovating social development, immigration, governance, culture and public safety!

What does the Living Together Observatory do?

What does the Living Together Observatory do?

The Observatory wants to document best practices, produce case studies and original analysis concerning diversity in cities to improve the quality of life in municipal areas. Facing current issues, such as urban growth, metropolization and mobility of populations, the member cities are working together on finding solutions to those challenges. For this purpose, an international website was launched to assemble and disseminate the best practices of each participating city.  

Some major accomplishments the Observatory has achieved include:

  • Close to doubling the network members from 23 to almost 50 cities
  • Establishing a number of boards of partners in participating cities
  • Concluding a study on Living Together policies conducted in 12 cities 

The Observatory is part of a broader movement to encourage peace, inclusion and human rights! For more information, please see the observatory website.

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