Azerbaijani Official Highlights Media's Power In Shaping People-Centered Cities

(MENAFN- Trend News Agency) BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 20. The media is the main driving force behind transforming urban development from a technical issue into a people-centred dialogue, a member of the Supervisory Board of the Media Development Agency and founding director of the“Communications and Digital Media” program at ADA University, Shafag Mehraliyeva said, Trend reports.

She made the statement at the event“Media as a Driver of Public Discourse on Housing and Urban Resilience,” held as part of WUF13.

Mehraliyeva noted that no matter how effectively state institutions strive to fulfill their duties, they cannot effectively address housing and sustainable urban development issues unilaterally, without public participation and public trust. These two elements, participation and trust, cannot exist without communication.

Furthermore, Mehraliyeva said that communication should be viewed not merely as an additional element of urban policy, but as an important part of the infrastructure of sustainable development.

The Supervisory Board member emphasized that the process of reconstruction and resettlement in Karabakh is a unique example for Azerbaijan and one of the best lessons that international guests can learn from it.

“For 30 years, nearly one million people have been displaced. Today, we are returning to our liberated territories, and every person returning home has their own expectations, based on memories of their hometowns from 30 years ago. For example, people returning to Agdam today are faced with a completely different, more modern, and sustainable environment. In this context, I would like to express my gratitude to the Azerbaijani media, because they are very professionally explaining to the public why the situation around them is exactly as it is and what the future of Karabakh will look like.

Through media projects such as“Aghdam and Me”, communities returning to their homeland are gradually being prepared for this process. They are told that the environment to which they are returning will be future-oriented. This reinforces their sense of stability.

This example demonstrates that information and communication must be properly organized, not at the end, but from the very beginning of urban planning processes. Very often, information is provided to the public only after decisions have been made. This is a global problem.

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