World Cities Day is an annual United Nations Observance day held on 31 October. It is a legacy of Expo 2010 Shanghai, aiming to address challenges of urbanization and contribute to sustainable development. This year's event has taken place in Shanghai. Lin Nan has more.

This one-stop service center in Wanli subdistrict of Shanghai was opened in 2022 to provide services to deliverymen, riders, drivers and other city workers. They can park cars for free, change the batteries of electric bikes, have a cheap lunch and even get a haircut during their breaks.

LIU QIANG, Deliveryman "I used to eat my lunch by the roadside. Now I sit down and have lunch properly."

This service center has been listed in the latest edition of the Shanghai Manual, a Guide for Sustainable Urban Development in the 21st Century. It is released by UN Habitat and the Shanghai government every year to celebrate World Cities Day on Oct 31.

CHEN HAIYUN, Researcher, Tongji University "There are a large number of hardworking people who need to be taken good care of. They are serving our society, but their needs have been ignored. This is a good example of how we can help them, and it can be promoted in other places."

World Cities Day is designated by the UN as a legacy of Expo 2010 Shanghai to address challenges of urbanization. This year's China Observance kicked off on Saturday and lasts 4 days. Brisbane in Australia, Fuzhou in China, George Town in Malaysia, Kampala in Uganda and Salvador in Brazil won the inaugural Global Awards for Sustainable Development in Cities, or the Shanghai Award, at the opening ceremony.

RAJENDRAN P. ANTHONY, Major, City Council of Penang Island "I believe that these awards will create awareness among all the people about how important it is to save the world, to take initiatives to actually reduce the impact of the global warming and other issues that the world is facing now."

The Shanghai Adapted Index was also unveiled to evaluate the achievements and challenges facing global cities in sustainable development.

JOHN DYFED AUBREY, Inter-regional Advisor, UN-Habitat "Every year you can see what is the latest good practices, and this is a very important opportunity to share experiences from one country to another and cooperate in terms of giving the cities and know how to drive forward sustainable development."

The 4-day event includes over 20 forums, meetings and exhibitions addressing hot topics in urban sustainable development. Lin Nan, CGTN, Shanghai.