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. This press conference will launch "Local Patterns for the New Urban Agenda", a new implementation initiative led by The Pattern Institute and partners to address one of the most persistent challenges in global urban policy: translating high-level commitments into effective, locally actionable solutions. As the New Urban Agenda (NUA) and the Sustainable Development Goals reach their midpoint, many cities—particularly in Africa and Asia—continue to face a "last-mile problem," where global principles do not translate easily into on-the-ground action. This initiative introduces pattern language methodology as a practical, human-centered tool to bridge that gap. Pattern languages transform complex policies into visual, repeatable, and adaptable solutions that can be applied...

 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 ONE UN event, convened by Local2030 Coalition's Working Group 2 - Financing the Localization of the SDGs, will showcase the group's and its members work supporting local and regional governments to adopt Integrated Local Financing Frameworks and Instruments to accelerate the localisation of finance for the SDGs. Building on the Sevilla Commitment and Platform for Action (SPA) initiative " Localizing Finance To Drive Systemic Impact For The Achievement Of The 2030 Agenda ", the session will explore progress with the adoption of ILFFs and financial instruments and its impact. ILFFs, Local Financial Instruments and innovative methodologies to strengthen local financing pipelines are being, adopted, and scaled up by and for city and regional governments. These instrum...

  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 multilevel governance empower local action to deliver housing for all? Cities and territories are at the frontline of interlinked housing, climate, and inequality challenges, with impacts most acute in informal settlements and for less represented communities. As the housing crisis intensifies globally, the need for localized and scalable solutions is urgent. Addressing the crisis means moving beyond project-based interventions toward systemic territorial transformation anchored on localization and placing Local and Regional Governments (LRGs) at the center. As the level of government closest to communities, the play a critical role in translating global commitments into tangible outcomes through integrated planning, service delivery, and political leadership. Yet their effec...