Dear Participants and Partners, 

As there are only 18 days to go until the 2^nd International Conference on Learning Cities (ICLC), we are now issuing our last call for registration. To date, more than 500 participants, including mayors, city representatives and representatives of international organizations, the private sector, NGOs and academia, have registered to help shape the future of learning cities. To join us in Mexico City, please register and finalize your participation at www.learningcities2015.org by 15 September 2015. 

The 2^nd ICLC will focus on the theme ‘Building Sustainable Learning Cities’. Experts from various sectors will share their perspectives in regional forums, thematic forums and four plenary sessions. In this special issue newsletter, we wish to introduce the themes of the plenary sessions and to acquaint you with some of our moderators and speakers. We hope you enjoy reading about our experts’ background and getting to know their areas of expertise.

The Conference will also introduce the membership process for the UNESCO Global Network of Learning Cities, launch the UNESCO Learning City Award and present the new publication Unlocking the Potential of Urban Communities: Case Studies of Twelve Learning Cities. To give you a preview of this publication, six of the featured cities will share their motivations for building learning cities in this newsletter. Representatives of these cities will also share their achievements and lessons learned at the Conference itself.  

In the next newsletter issue you can read about the regional and thematic forums, get to know more of our speakers and learn about the other six cities showcased in Unlocking the Potential of Urban Communities: Case Studies of Twelve Learning Cities. We will also provide you with all the practical information you need to attend the Conference and get around the Conference venues.

For further information, please visit the Conference website at www.learningcities2015.org or contact us at learningcities(at)unesco.org.  

We hope you enjoy getting a taste of the Conference, and we look forward to welcoming you to Mexico City!

Yours faithfully,

The Coordination Team of the UNESCO Global Network of Learning Cities (GNLC)

UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning

If you missed the first special issue newsletter on ‘Taking learning cities a step further’, please click here.