UN-Habitat Iraq Newsletter – April 2023 (Arabic) 2023 UN-Habitat Iraq April 2023 Newsletter: Provides an update on UN-Habitat’s activities in Iraq as well as relevant policy and advocacy topics.
Rural Revitalization Under the Net-Zero Carbon Goal, Dinghai, Zhoushan, China 2023 The “Rural Revitalization Under the Net-Zero Carbon Goal, Dinghai, Zhoushan, China” is a practice report under the cooperation of UN-Habitat, Zhoushan Municipal Government and Tongji University. The Dinghai District has pioneered net-zero carbon rural revitalization efforts. This report thoroughly evaluates their planning and development initiatives through a comprehensive investigation and presents exemplary cases to provide a low-carbon solution for rural areas in island regions.
Benchmarking Case Studies on Planning Laws in Five Countries: Morocco, Netherlands, South Africa, Republic of Korea, and The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland 2023 Through this international benchmarking case study on planning laws in five countries (Morocco, Netherlands, South Africa, Republic of Korea and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland), UN-Habitat has assessed the impact of these urban laws on sustainable urban development to provide a spectrum of regulatory models and schemes for the spatial planning legal reform in the Sultanate of Oman. These case studies reveal that planning legal framework should clearly define planning objectives for each level of planning which is part of sound policymaking to articulate the scope of the planning instrument as well as an opportunity to reflect the local needs and challenges. Additionally, for smooth implementation, planning laws should promote coordination between institutions at the national level with institutions at the regional and local levels for the planning, implementation, approval and oversight of development projects, plans and documents. Community engagement principles and mandatory requirements for public participation should be provided in planning legislation to provide binding obligations to be followed during the entire spatial planning process. Varied types of land ownership and the continuum of land rights should be promoted by legislation, considering cultural customs, including freehold, leasehold or customary ownership to promote greater security of tenure which will minimize the threat of forced evictions. Finally, the possibility to challenge planning decisions both through the appeal and judicial review mechanism should be provided in law including access to fair alternative dispute-resolution systems that allow individuals to avoid the burdens associated with traditional judicial systems, where possible. The publication also contains an Annex showcasing the case study of Catalonia, Spain which delineates how the land classification system, through municipal and detail plans, influence access to urban basic services and infrastructure as well as forming the basis for the grant of a building permit.
Baidoa City Strategy 2023 This document provides a City-Wide Strategy for Baidoa that defines a clear direction and provides a holistic vision of sustainable urban growth for the upcoming years. Furthermore, the City Extension Plan for Baidoa North defines a clear spatial development framework for the most critical

area of the city, and proposes demonstration projects and fast-track infrastructure projects to prioritize the urgent interventions within Baidoa.





The report provides a framework for crucial strategic scenarios and demonstration projects in line with National and State priorities. It serves as an entry point for other relevant actors, such as the humanitarian and development agencies, International NGO´s, local and national governments, as well as other stakeholders. This ensures that the scenarios and recommendations for Baidoa do not operate in isolation from other ongoing projects and interventions.
Vision, Scenario Building, and Action Plan for Al-Afrah Neighbourhood 2023 Following the spatial analytics done in the Irbid Spatial Profile and through a participatory approach, this report provides a practical example on neighbourhood planning. It is a blueprint on transforming evidence-based studies into financeable projects and translating the optimal scenario into an action plan, all of which help realize the formulated vision for the Al-Afrah neighbourhood.
Child-responsive urban policies, laws and standards: a guidance 2023 UN-Habitat and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) have developed this Guidance on Child-Responsive Urban Policies, Laws and Standards to support governments at all levels to create urban spaces where children can access basic services, clean air and water; where children feel safe to play, learn and grow, which includes ensuring their voices are heard and their needs are integrated into public policies and decision-making processes. The guidance highlights the important role that policy and legislation play as drivers of change; they set normative standards and minimum expectations for duty-bearers in all aspects of children’s life, survival and development. Hence, the rights and interests of children in the urban context should be considered and mainstreamed in planning, financing, administrative and structural reforms at all levels of government, including at the local level. Thus, this tool contains a succinct but comprehensive summary of the best practices, country-specific, practical examples, including a set of global child-rights frameworks that are necessary to grant children equal value and to guarantee them the necessary protection and opportunities for participation. This guidance has been developed in such a way that it is useful for governments at all levels, children-led institutions, young peoples’ associations, sectoral institutions, urban practitioners, non-state actors, and community-based organizations and children. clinma
Semarang Spatial Profile 2023 UN-Habitat, partnered with the World Bank, Indonesian Government, and Semarang's City, to advise and support in implementing a joint urban vision. UN-Habitat's Urban Lab conducted a 12-week rapid planning studio and masterclass series to rapidly simulate an evidence-based spatial planning process linked to capital investment while enhancing local capacity for sustainable urban development.
Benchmarking Case Studies on Public Participation in Spatial Planning Processes In Four Countries: Australia, Chile, South Africa And The United Kingdom Of Great Britain And Northern Ireland: Urban Governance Case Studies, Volume 2 2023 UN-Habitat provides technical assistance and advisory services to member states in legal reform processes to bring about social and economic transformation and enhance effective service delivery for sustainable urban development. Benchmarking case studies and comparative analysis are key aspects of the UN-Habitat methodology for legal and governance reform.

This report showcases benchmarking case studies on public participation in four countries prepared for the project “Strengthening the Urban Planning Legal and Institutional Frameworks in the Sultanate of Oman”. It includes a comparative analysis of best practices for meaningful public participation in spatial planning to make urban development more inclusive, equitable, sustainable, active and meaningful.

The selection of the country case studies is based on the principles of effective public participation derived from the Sustainable Development Goals and the New Urban Agenda, which contain both quantitative and qualitative selection criteria. These criteria aim to ensure that the study contains relevant and innovative practices on public participation and that the selected countries are comparable to Oman with respect to their social, economic and political contexts. In sum, these case studies provide a spectrum of regulatory and governance models on public participation for the country’s legal and institutional reform agenda.
UN-Habitat Flagship Programmes 2023
Voluntary Local Review, Municipality of Agadir, Morocco 2023 The Voluntary Local Review (VLR) of the city of Agadir marks an important milestone for Morocco as it is the first in the country and in North Africa. It is the result of the collaboration between the Municipality of Agadir, the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (UNESCWA), the United Nations Human Settlement Programme (UN-Habitat) and the United Cities and Local Governments Middle East and West Asia Section (UCLG-MEWA).
Agadir’s VLR rests on evidence-based, participatory, reflective and actionable principles. It focuses on a review of the city’s progress towards SDG 5, SDG 6, SDG 7, SDG 8, SDG 11, SDG 13 and SDG 17.
This VLR ensures both complementarity and close alignment with the 2020 VNR of Morocco, depicting the country’s progress towards the SDGs. It provides a complementary perspective with the VNR by discussing the local development challenges and disparities, and development objectives vis a vis the national development challenges and ways to address them.