The City of Kigali has announced a plan to expand the Central Business District (CBD) car- free zone, commonly known as Imbuga City Walk. According to City Mayor, Pudence Rubingisa, expansion plans are to kick off next year. He made the announcement during the World Cities Day celebrations that took place on October 31. Expansion plans for the car free day are set to kick off next year, 2023 and will be done from Norrsken start-up hub up to University Teaching Hospital of Kigali (CHUK). This year’s World Cities Day is held under the theme Act Local to Go Global. The day is celebrated to empower local and regional governments to create greener, more equitable and sustainable cities. In Kigali, celebrations kicked off with bicycle riding, an exhibition of city plans, and google images of different streets of the city. Rubingisa said that the City of Kigali celebrates this day, as they encourage everyone to participate in maintaining what has been achieved in terms of cleanliness and climate conservation. He said that plans to expand the car-free zone are ongoing and that it will be finalised by December, these will still include entertainment, be climate friendly and for economic reasons. “We celebrate this day as it is more of promoting both local and international community interest in global urbanisation and cooperation among countries, as well as organisations that have shown interest in transforming cities into reliable and inclusive cities.” Rubingisa added that cities are facing an issue of rural-urban migration, urban-urban migration and their goal is to make sure that the urbanisation journey doesn’t leave anyone behind. “We are in discussions to see how people around the city would relocate to safe areas. As we celebrate this day, we celebrate the milestone from green cities to car free areas, and we encourage planting trees around our homes and also the buffer zones.” This year, the global observance of World Cities Day took place in the city of Shanghai, China. The theme of the day is focusing on the need to promote local action to accelerate the achievement of 17 Sustainable Development Goals. World Cities Day closes the Urban October month, on 31 October each year. It serves to advocate for urban development and push forward greater cooperation between national governments and cities to address urban challenges.
