The 2016 Suwon Human City Forum was successfully held on November 3-4 in Suwon City. Hosted by Suwon City and co-organized by CityNet and Suwon Research Institute, the forum attracted 300 urban policymakers, practitioners, academics and the members of the civil society. Hon. Jed Patrick Mabilog, the Mayor of Iloilo City and CityNet Special Advisor Mary Jane Ortega presented their take on what makes a human city.

Together with CityNet, Seoul Metropolitan Fire & Disaster Headquarters (SMFDH) dispatched decommissioned fire engines and ambulances to Quezon City, Philippines and Yangon, Myanmar. Staff from the two organisations visited the two cities to officially deliver this assistance program. SMFDH will also offer necessary training courses to ensure full utilization and maintenance of the vehicles. This is a result of a MoU that was signed earlier this year between CityNet and SMFDH.

CityNet Secretariat has just released its Autumn/Winter 2016 issue of its biannual magazine, CityVoices, where a set of good practices and success stories of Asian cities in their efforts in implementing smart cities for sustainable development are compiled. You can learn more about Makati, Muntinlupa, Mandalay City, and Sidoarjo¡¯s smart planning initiatives that make their cities more inclusive, integrated, and liveable.

Training for Nepali seismic and structural engineers from over 10 municipalities in Nepal took place in Kathmandu from the 23-27 October. This is the third training in a three-year project between Kathmandu and Yokohama, which hopes to strengthen the capacities of engineers in Nepal. This project intends to train over 100 engineers over the next three years.

The Chief and Executive Officer/Mayor of Kathmandu Metropolitan City, Mr. Rudra Singh Tamang, attended the Asia Smart City Conference in Yokohama from November 16-18 to deliver a presentation on Kathmandu's innovative Information Communication Technologies (ICT) initiatives. Kathmandu has three ICT initiatives: the Municipal Administration and Revenue System (MARS), Electronic Building Permit System (EBPS), and Vital Registration System (VERS).

In addition to presenting at the Asia Smart City Conference, the Mayor of Kathmandu Metropolitan City, Mr. Tamang, visited the City of Yokohama's Housing and Architecture Bureau. The mayor visited two divisions within the bureau to observe the offices' working procedures. The mayor also visited the basement of Yokohama City Hall to see the seismic dampers that have been installed.

October was a very busy month for all of the CBARAD-II components as they worked to prepare for the final Technical Advisory Visit (TAV) of the CBARAD-II Project. The TAV will take place from the 26th-29th of November and experts from Japan will conduct training in Iloilo on the topics of EMS and Disaster Response.

In partnership with NGOs, Help-O and PIEDAR, CYO is implementing two Community Based Solid Waste Management projects in Galle, Sri Lanka, and Islamabad, Pakistan. In Islamabad, the NGO PIEDAR has been working to enhance schoolchildren's understanding of waste and foster sustainable consumption and production through sustainable materials management at the local urban scale.

In Galle, Sri Lanka, locally based NGO HELP-O is implementing a community based solid waste management project. The City of Galle segregates solid waste into two categories: compost and plating. Plating includes plastics as well as bottles, cans, papers and other none compostable items.