UN-Habitat fulfilled its role as a focal point for sustainable urbanization in the UN System by promoting system-wide coordination on sustainable urbanization. It concentrated on putting in place the United Nations System-Wide Strategy on Sustainable Urban Development adopted by the Chief Executives Board in 2019, and on more strategic partnerships relating to data, integrated policy support and financing.

In December 2020, the United Nations General Assembly though its resolution A/RES/75/224, called for a High-level Meeting of the General Assembly on the Implementation of the New Urban Agenda to be held in 2022. In response to COVID-19, UN-Habitat led an inter-agency collaboration to develop the Secretary-General’s Policy Brief: COVID-19 in an Urban World, which was launched in July 2020.

UN-Habitat led the social cohesion and community resilience component of the United Nations framework for immediate socio-economic response to COVID-19, and started a global database of the effects of the pandemic on cities and the cities’ responses. UN-Habitat released the global report Cities and Pandemics: Towards a More Just, Green and Healthy Future in March 2021 which demonstrates how cities can reduce the impact of future pandemics and become more equitable, healthy and environmentally friendly. The report provided policy analysis based on data from more than 1,700 cities which sharpens UN-Habitat’s focus on programming at country level, its contributions to global and regional inter-agency processes, and its engagement with cities and local governments.