UN-Habitat Arena - Transforming informal settlements: Data, standards, and practice (WUF13).

 The thirteenth session of the World Urban Forum (WUF13) takes place in Baku, Azerbaijan, from 17 to 22 May 2026. The theme of WUF13 is: Housing the world: Safe and resilient cities and communities.

About 1.16 billion people - equivalent to 24.8 of the global urban population - are estimated to live in slums and informal settlements, based on the latest estimates by UN-Habitat. While historical trends indicates a 5.9% decline in the proportion of urban population living in slums and informal settlements owing to a diversity of programmes across regions (from 30.6% in 2000 to 24.8% in 2024), the number of people living in slums and informal settlements has increased by 279 Million people between 2000 and 2024. Out of this number, about 49% (136 Million) are new entrants to living in slum like conditions since 2015, when the SDGs took effect. Urgent and concerted efforts are needed now more than ever, considering the rapid rate at which slum populations are increasing, and which are likely to be further compounded by the increasing challenges of conflict, disaster and risk exposures and persistent rapid urbanization rates in the developing regions.

UN-Habitat's 2026 - 2029 strategic plan aims to respond directly to the slum challenge, by promoting the development of solutions that respond to the key urban issues on housing, land, and basic services including the transformation of informal settlements. To achieve the objectives of transformation of slums and informal settlements, a diversity of solutions are required - from advancements in how we measure urban informality, to more inclusive urban planning and sustainable development financing housing practices. The data challenge remains the most critical to how we are able to tackle the slum challenge in the coming years.

The current methodology used by UN-Habitat for estimating slum populations relies on household-level deprivations rather than settlement classification, which challenges often makes it difficult to target interventions to a specific spatial unit, which investments often manifest. While UN-Habitat has explored ways to spatialize slum and informal settlement measurements since the early 2000s, early attempts faced scalability challenges due to the complexities of informal spatial manifestations and the high cost of very high-resolution data. Despite these limitations, city and settlement-level analyses were carried out worldwide through the 2000s, primarily driven by research institutions in partnership with select city governments. Unfortunately, these efforts remained constrained in scope, covering a limited number of cities, often repeatedly analysed by different scientists, and focusing on a few settlements within each city rather than providing comprehensive urban-wide assessments.

At the onset of the SDGs, UN-Habitat actively started major explorations of possibilities for updating the methodology for measuring slums and informal settlements, with a focus also on integration of key emerging technologies that were reaching maturity. Initial attempts included the creation of the UN expert group on slums and informal settlements, which have subsequently morphed into global technical cooperation, that is today part of the Global Urban Data Coalition. The need for further development of alternative measures of informality have been based on emerging needs among cities and countries for actionable data on slums and informal settlements, a growing body of knowledge and resources to enable relevant and scalable space-based analyses beyond the traditional household deprivations.

While a lot of progress has been made to date, with very promising approaches and datasets emerging in the last decade, the complexity of universally understanding informal settlements still persists, calling on for more collaboration and continued engagements around data, standards and practices, which will both support achievement of the UN-Habitat 2026 - 2029 strategic plan and tracking progress during the last 4 years of the SDGsObjectives

The session aims to:Assess the status of data and information on slums and informal settlements
Take stock and deliberate on the current approaches to monitoring slums and informal settlements, including the promising datasets
Understand emerging needs from cities and policy makers around data, standards and their linkages to local decision making and programming

4. Deliberate on the best pathways to enhanced cooperation for data, standards and best practices documentation and sharing for policy and action, and critical linkages to the Global Urban Data Coalition


Key themes to cover in the session

a. Housing and informal settlements deep diveMethodologies, standards and key gaps
Scale and dynamics of slums and informal settlements
Tracking impact

Policy responses and innovative approaches

b. SDG 11 progress and gapsStatus and trends on SDG 11.1.1
Assess and share regional disparities and intra-urban inequalities
Examine interlinkages with other SDG 11 indicators and other goals (e.g., SDGs 1, 6, 7, 9, 13, 17)

d. Data and measurement systemsAdvances in methodologies, including big data mining and geospatial analyses
Integration of official statistics, Earth observation, and community-generated data

Challenges in producing timely, disaggregated, and city-level data

e. Pathways to 2030/2036 and beyondScaling integrated urban planning and governance
Leveraging digital transformation and AI responsibly
Strengthening financing and institutional capacity
Advancing inclusive and climate-resilient housing systems


Expected Outcomes

A shared understanding on the key existing measurements of trends on slums and informal settlements, including the key terminology
A collection of the key requirements for enhanced monitoring of slums and informal settlements
Recommendations on key considerations for data and information standards associated with slums and informal settlements
Strengthened partnerships across governments, cities, and data communities
Clear strategy on how to align ongoing initiatives within the Global Urban Data Coalition


Target audience

National governments and statistical offices
City and local authorities
UN agencies and international organizations
Development banks and financing institutions
Academia, civil society, and private sector partners
Partners from the Global urban data coalition


Proposed format and engagement

Duration: 90 minutes

Structure:Opening remarks (10 min) - Framing the global slum and informal settlements challenge and connections to SDG 11
High-level panel discussion (40 min) - Reflections from global leaders and experts
Interactive dialogue (30 min) - Audience engagement and interventions
Closing reflections (10 min) - Key takeaways and calls to action


Strategic Relevance to WUF

This session links to the WUF theme "Housing the World: Safe and Resilient Cities and Communities" by deliberating on the key data gaps, needs and technological integrations that are critical for enhanced monitoring of trends in one of the most pressing housing sectors: slums and informal settlements. It will also explore forward-looking solutions on how to enhance cooperation and long-term sustainability of solutions for monitoring slums and informal settlements while adhering to data standards.


Panelists

Tony and Washington (IADB)
Francesca (ESA)
Mikkel - SDI
Hector - UNH
City A
City B
IBGE - Brazil
Monika - ITC
Rudiger - OECD
Gesa - UNITAC

Related Sites and Documents: World Urban Forum Website & Programme.

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UN-Habitat Arena - Transforming informal settlements: Data, standards, and practice (WUF13)

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