The conference, organized by UN-Habitat along with Azerbaijan, opens on Sunday 17 Might and runs by way of Friday, 22 Might. It is going to deliver collectively world leaders, mayors, city planning consultants, in addition to representatives of governments, the non-public sector, civil society and worldwide organizations.
An bold purpose: housing the world
The theme of the discussion board is a name to motion: Housing the World: Protected and Resilient Cities and Communities. Based on the UN, almost 2.8 billion individuals right now reside in insufficient housing situations, whereas greater than 300 million haven’t any dwelling in any respect. With near 70 per cent of the worldwide inhabitants anticipated to stay in cities by 2050, the disaster is simply set to accentuate.
In an interview with UN Video, the top of UN-Habitat, Anacláudia Rossbach, described the state of affairs as a “world housing disaster”.
“This disaster has lengthy been most extreme and structural within the International South, however now it is usually being felt within the International North as properly.”
Based on Ms. Rossbach, the rising value of residing has grow to be a serious situation, whereas worldwide crises, together with the battle within the Center East and the associated dangers to world provide chains, additional worsen the state of affairs.
Greater than only a home
The disaster goes far past bricks and mortar. Housing is more and more seen as a cornerstone of human dignity, city resilience and even world stability. Its impacts ripple throughout each facet of life, the UN warns – straining healthcare and training techniques, weakening economies and fraying the social cloth.
Francine Pickup, Deputy Director of the UN Growth Programme and head of the UNDP delegation to WUF13, stated the company hopes to make use of the discussion board in Baku to strengthen partnerships in selling built-in city options that mix housing, local weather resilience, governance and native financing.
“This world housing disaster that we’re in just isn’t primarily a building downside,” Ms. Pickup stated. “We have to transcend taking a look at constructing properties and homes and have a look at the city setting and have a look at the housing situation as a fancy downside.”
Casual settlements: problem and alternative
One of many central themes of the discussion board would be the fast progress of informal settlements, or unplanned areas the place residents lack authorized claims to land and stay in precarious housing.
At the moment, round 1.1 billion individuals stay in slums, and projections counsel that determine may rise by one other two billion within the coming many years. Youngsters are particularly susceptible: between 350 and 500 million youngsters are estimated to stay in slum situations.
On the similar time, UN-Habitat is asking for a shift away from approaches that view casual settlements solely as an issue. In lots of instances, such neighborhoods are the one means thousands and thousands of individuals can safe shelter in cities.
Rebuilding after battle
One other situation set to loom massive, in opposition to the backdrop of ongoing conflicts and crises, is how cities recuperate after battle and catastrophe. By the top of 2022, greater than 123 million individuals had been forcibly displaced worldwide, in accordance with the UN, with over 60% looking for refuge in city areas.
Dropping a house is about way over dropping a roof. It may possibly imply the rupture of communities, the lack of livelihoods and a deep sense of insecurity. In Baku, the main focus won’t solely be on offering shelter, however on rebuilding lives – from restoring neighbourhoods and creating jobs to serving to communities discover a path again to normality.
She added that discussions in Baku can even concentrate on reconstruction and restoration in nations affected by wars and disasters.
“There’s an pressing needn’t solely to offer housing, but additionally to rebuild communities in methods which are inclusive, resilient and sustainable,” Ms. Rossbach said.
Local weather shocks
One other line of dialogue will concentrate on climate issues. Consultants warn that the local weather disaster is quick changing into a key driver of the worldwide housing disaster. Excessive climate occasions – together with floods, storms and wildfires – displaced greater than 20 million individuals in 2023 alone. Estimates counsel that local weather change may destroy 167 million properties worldwide by 2040.
On the similar time, buildings themselves stay one of many largest sources of emissions: the development sector accounts for 34 per cent of world energy-related CO2 emissions. The discussion board will due to this fact search solutions to 2 interconnected questions: how one can construct extra housing whereas additionally avoiding a worsening of the local weather disaster.
“The theme of the Discussion board is housing. We’ll discover housing from many various views – together with informality, finance, sustainability and resilience,” Ms. Rossbach stated.
“At the moment, we have to be absolutely conscious of the affect of local weather change and the strain it locations on housing techniques. What we construct, how we construct and the place we construct all have penalties for pure sources, local weather resilience and communities’ capacity to resist shocks and disasters.”
Bogotá, Colombia, was chosen by UN-Habitat because the official host metropolis for World Cities Day 2025—the United Nations’ flagship occasion on sustainable urbanism.
A shared effort
A central theme operating by way of the discussion board is the necessity for collective motion – bringing collectively everybody from governments and native authorities to universities and grassroots communities.
“World City Discussion board is our largest platform to deliver collectively stakeholders,” Ms. Rossbach stated. “We hope to see a powerful and numerous group gathered in Baku and to emerge from WUF13 with a stronger world coalition to deal with the housing disaster.”
“We can’t resolve the worldwide housing disaster alone. We want governments, native authorities, civil society, academia, communities and the non-public sector to work collectively,” she added.
The New City Agenda, 10 years on
The Baku discussion board can even mark an necessary political milestone: this yr marks the tenth anniversary of the New City Agenda adopted in 2016.
Additional, in July, the UN Common Meeting in New York Metropolis will conduct a midterm assessment of the Agenda, and discussions in Baku are anticipated to assist decide how far the world has progressed in creating extra sustainable, protected and inexpensive cities.
Concerning the World City Discussion board
The World City Discussion board was established by the UN Common Meeting in 2001 and is organized by UN-Habitat. Held each two years, it’s thought-about the main worldwide convention targeted on sustainable urbanization and the way forward for cities.
The discussion board brings collectively governments, city planners, researchers, civil society teams and personal sector representatives to look at how fast city progress is affecting communities, economies, infrastructure and the local weather. For the reason that first session in Nairobi in 2002, the discussion board has been hosted by cities world wide. Some 40,000 contributors from 182 nations are registered to participate in Baku discussion board.
