World Habitat Day

   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. How can circular construction deliver housing that reduces resource use while strengthening climate resilience globally?  This session explores the connections between innovative design, material circularity, and resilience thinking to practical housing solutions for cities facing climate and resource pressures. The result of a global architectural competition, House of No Waste (HØW), UNU-FLORES presents a compendium of ideas that challenge the existing boundaries of circularity in buildings and construction and reimagine them. The session highlights innovative housing concepts from the initiative that tap into local waste streams, while reducing primary material use and embodied carbon across the building lifecycle. In dialogue with UN-Habitat's Urban Resilience Hub, the ...

   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. This event will examine the key challenges and success factors for delivering affordable and sustainable housing in developing countries and countries with economies in transition. Through presentations by national and local leaders (Armenia, Brazil, Colombia, India, Kenya, Uzbekistan); UN agencies, and international organizations, the event will highlight how multilevel governance approaches—supported by UN-led programmes such as CHAMP and the Global Alliance for Buildings and Construction's (GlobalABC), Zero Emission and Resilient Buildings (ZERB) Accelerator—are helping countries and cities put low-carbon and climate-resilient housing policies into practice , while maintaining housing supply and affordability. The event will also showcase strong partnerships between UNEP (inc...