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. Organizers: UN-Habitat and State Committee on Urban Planning and Architecture of the Republic of Azerbaijan. This press conference will mark the closing of the thirteenth session of the World Urban Forum (WUF13) and highlight key outcomes and messages from the week. Related Sites and Documents: World Urban Forum Website & Programme . Watch Press - Official Closing Press Conference of WUF13! Conferences

 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. Join a bold call to action—where reflection becomes collective action for the next decade of the New Urban Agenda. This session at the UN-Habitat Arena during the World Urban Forum 13 convenes national and local governments, regional bodies, development partners, academia, women, youth, and other key stakeholders to take stock of a decade of implementing the New Urban Agenda (NUA) and to chart the way forward for the next 10 years. Building on the momentum of the upcoming 2026 reporting cycle, the discussion will reflect on experiences with NUA implementation, monitoring, and reporting, with particular attention to lessons learned, best practices, and persistent challenges across different contexts. The session will explore how National Progress Reports (NPRs) have supported countries ...

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. Related Sites and Documents: World Urban Forum Website & Programme . Watch the ONE UN - Why Continue Development and Reconstruction While Conflict Persists? Urban Recovery Insights from the Saudi Development and Reconstruction Program for Yemen (WUF13)! Conferences

  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. Related Sites and Documents: World Urban Forum Website & Programme . Watch the  Press - Daily Press Briefing (WUF13) ! Conferences

  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, organized by UNDRR, UNEP, UNDP, and UN-Habitat City Resilience Global Programme, positions housing not as a standalone sector but as a core urban system linking risk, climate, governance, services and social cohesion. It applies the concept of urban resilience cycle (anticipation, risk reduction, crisis response and recovery) to translate global frameworks and agencies' actions into concrete decision points for cities and national governments. Resilient housing have become a global priority as rapid urbanization, climate change, increasingly frequent disasters, environmental degradation and socio-economic instability converge to undermine housing systems worldwide. These pressures are systemic, affecting housing structures, land governance, infrastructure networks, ...

   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 national legislation turn global housing commitments into real outcomes? Housing is one of the most pressing challenges facing governments at national, regional, and local levels today. Rising housing costs, chronic supply shortages, and growing informal settlements are reshaping urban demographics, fueling social tensions, and constraining economic mobility. In developing countries, rapid urbanization, climate-related hazards, and inadequate infrastructure intensify these challenges, driving the expansion of informal settlements and heightening social tensions. These pressures generate political and economic demands for reform, placing urban law and regulatory frameworks at the center of national development priorities. Parliamentarians play a pivotal role in shaping th...

  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. Related Sites and Documents:  World Urban Forum Website  &  Programme . Watch the roundtables - Parliamentarians Roundtable (WUF13) ! Conferences

 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 the UN system deliver coordinated solutions to accelerate housing and the SDGs? Adequate housing is central to achieving the SDGs and advancing inclusive, resilient, and sustainable urban development. Yet the global housing crisis continues to deepen, affecting nearly three billion people worldwide and undermining progress across multiple development priorities, including poverty reduction, health, climate resilience, and social inclusion. Addressing this challenge requires coordinated action across sectors, levels of government, and development partners. The One UN Roundtable at WUF13 will convene Resident Coordinators, United Nations entities, national and local partners, and development stakeholders to advance a shared UN system approach to adequate housing as a catalyst fo...

  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 side event will highlight sanitation as a foundational urban system for safe, adequate, and climate-resilient housing, focusing on low-income and informal urban communities in Asia. Convened at the 13th World Urban Forum in Baku and co-organized by ESCAP, UN-Habitat, the World Bank, Habitat for Humanity International, Slum Dwellers International, and CWIS San Nepal, the event addresses the sanitation crisis and its direct implications for housing safety and urban resilience. The session will link sanitation to the WUF13 theme, " Housing the world: Safe and resilient cities and communities ," and demonstrate how inadequate sanitation undermines housing habitability through flooding, structural damage, and public health risks. Three city case presentations will cover sanitat...

 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 present the new UN World Urbanization Prospects and the first ever projections of how each city in the globe will change in following decades. It will show the opportunities and challenges faced by cities in the global north and south. While some cities are growing rapidly which can lead to crowding and sub-standard housing , others are spreading out and losing population. Housing strategies need to take into account the changes in demand and urban expansion. This new and unique set of projections shows how cities are likely to grow or shrink in the future in terms of population, land and built-up area. This event will kick off with two presentations. The first is by Cheryl Sawyer from the UN Population Division showing how urbanisation has and will change globally . T...

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

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 . Opening Ceremony of the Thirteenth Session of the World Urban Forum - WUF13. Related Sites and Documents: World Urban Forum Website & Programme . Watch the Opening Ceremony - Thirteenth session of the World Urban Forum (WUF13)! Conferences

 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. Organizers:  UN-Habitat and State Committee on Urban Planning and Architecture of the Republic of Azerbaijan Facilitator: Nadira Tudor (Euronews) (TBC) The official opening press conference of the thirteenth session of the World Urban Forum (WUF13) will set the tone for the week, introducing the theme "Housing the world: Safe and resilient cities and communities" and outlining key priorities for addressing the global housing crisis, strengthening urban resilience, and advancing sustainable urban development in cities and communities worldwide. Partners: UN-Habitat Session panelists: Anacláudia Rossbach, Executive Director, UN-Habitat Anar Guliyev, Chairman of the State Committee for Urban Planning and Architecture of the Republic of Azerbaijan and WUF13 National Coordinator Rep...

   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 do we turn diverse voices into shared priorities and actionable commitments? The Joint Closing of the Assemblies brings together the collective intelligence, insights, and commitments generated across all stakeholder groups into a unified direction for WUF13. As the culmination of assembly deliberations, it transforms dialogue into convergence—articulating clear priorities that can drive action beyond the Forum. Through a carefully sequenced and interactive format, the session will synthesize key messages, recommendations, and commitments emerging from each assembly. Representatives will present concise insights and bold proposals, feeding into a collective process that distills cross-cutting priorities and shared ambitions. High-level reflections will connect these ou...