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. Exploring market innovation opportunities such as blended finance structures, green and municipal bonds, public-private partnerships (PPPs), and digitally enabled land and property systems. Cities are growing rapidly, with an anticipated 68% of the world's population living in cities by 2050. This growth is driving housing and infrastructure demand that remains chronically unmet. primary drivers of this deficit are weak financing systems and poor linkages between planning and development. Globally, there is$1.5Trillion gap in annual infrastructure financing (World Bank). Urban planning is a powerful value creation instrument when aligned with infrastructure sequencing, regulatory certainty and market-responsive land-use controls. Interventions such as land-use zoning and strate...

   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 island cities lead the way in resilient and sustainable urban futures? Small Island Developing States (SIDS) across the world are at the frontline of converging environmental, economic, and social pressures intensified by rapid and often unplanned urbanization. Rising sea levels, coastal degradation, and increasingly frequent climate related disasters continue to threaten fragile settlements, while adequate housing shortages and overstretched basic services deepen inequalities and heighten exposure to risks. Despite regional differences, SIDS share an urgent need for resilient, inclusive, and localized urban development supported by strong multi stakeholder partnerships and community engagement. As competition for suitable land increases, and the limited budgetary space ...

  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 cities be co-designed with young people to create truly livable urban futures? A home is the anchor for children and youth to navigate and influence the wider urban environment , yet this foundation is increasingly fragile. Today's housing crisis is intensified by climate shocks and rising inequalities, which disproportionately affects young people in informal settlements and urban displacement contexts. Despite these pressures, children and youth continue to lead climate action, generate local data, and innovate new forms of civic engagement, redefining what urban livability means. The Children and Youth Roundtable explores the intersection of children's and youth rights and urban planning. It expands the concept of "home" from simple shelter to a vision of ...

   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. A clear articulation of the housing and urban services roadmap from Baku to Abu Dhabi—integrating water, sanitation, housing, land, and slum transformation—positioned as a strategic contribution to the 2026 UN Water Conference and future global policy dialogues. WUF13 is a strategic milestone on the road to the 2026 UN Water Conference to be held in Abu Dhabi in December 2026. Building on the UN Water Action Agenda launched in 2023, the event responds to the persistent global shortfall in access to safely managed water and sanitation, particularly in rapidly growing urban areas and informal settlements, by positioning housing, land governance, and WASH as inseparable pillars of sustainable urban development. The session highlights the stark reality that billions of people still ...

  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 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...

  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. Climate peace and security (CPS) frameworks have thus far largely ignored the specificities of urban environments. In the face of rapid urbanization as well as city-specific disaster and conflict risks, it is timely to develop frameworks and tools that explicitly address the CPS nexus in an urban environment because rapid urbanisation compounds climate vulnerability by concentrating populations in informal, climate-exposed settlements . Climate stresses drive further urbanisation through rural push factors. Both processes interact to create conditions that can exacerbate the possibility of urban conflict . Such urban climate, peace and security approaches can build on the expertise of urban specialists which is well illustrated in the timely UNHABITAT report Rising temperatures, ris...