This Toolkit provides planners and city leaders with practical guidance on applying Geospatial Artificial Intelligence (GeoAI) to urban planning and decision-making. It explains key concepts, applications, risks and benefits, and provides step-by-step guidance, case studies and tools to support responsible, data-driven and inclusive planning for sustainable and resilient urban development.

UN-Habitat’s Strategic Plan 2026–2029 places housing, land and basic services at the centre of sustainable urban development. Responding to the global housing crisis affecting billions, the plan drives action on poverty, climate and crises, advancing the SDGs through inclusive policies, partnerships and impact.

UN-Habitat, as part of the Institutional Strengthening and Capacity Building (ISCB) project in Viet Nam, funded by the Government of Switzerland through the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO), conducted this comparative legal study of spatial planning laws and governance frameworks in nine countries—Bangladesh, Japan, Malaysia, Panama, Paraguay, the Republic of Korea, South Africa, Thailand, and the Philippines. The study examined how planning mandates and hierarchies are defined…

UN-Habitat, as part of the Institutional Strengthening and Capacity Building (ISCB) project in Viet Nam funded by the Government of Switzerland through the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) as well as in collaboration with the Urban Development Agency under the Ministry of Construction, conducted a rapid assessment of Vietnam’s legal framework for urban development. The legislative analysis focussed on planning, housing, land, and local governance which identified key gaps, overlaps…

This is the Volume 2 of the Heritopolis Working Papers representing the activities of its Research Forum and the diverse studies on Heritage and the Metropolis that were debated by researchers around the world. The document is an effort to reflect on the new role of heritage in the current context, being aware of the ongoing demographic, economic, political and demographic challenges while considering heritage as a resource to be managed in the support of common wellbeing.

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