World Cities Report 2024: Cities and Climate Action

This edition of the World Cities Report provides a wide and far-reaching analysis of the current and expected climate impacts on different regions and cities, as well as the differing vulnerabilities urban populations face due to factors such as poverty, inequality, ethnicity, gender, disability and other characteristics. Notwithstanding the acute financial and institutional shortfalls many face, the Report shows that cities are…

University partnerships are key to UN-Habitat’s ‘centre of excellence’ aspiration. They can act as drivers of capacity building, innovation, and urban change. These partnerships are enacted through a wide array of knowledge products and across a vast geography of collaborations internationally. A reform and enhancement of Habitat UNI, as the university partnership initiative of UN-Habitat, could be pivotal to reap the benefits of this multifaceted engagement.

UN-Habitat’s Catalogue of Services provides the current range of ways in which the organization can support national and local governments, partners and stakeholders to address their development challenges and advance sustainable and inclusive urban development using its services, expertise and tools.

As we enter the second year of this United Nations’ Decade of Action, the Secretary-General Antonio Guterres reminds us that we need to ‘turbo-charge’ our efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. More importantly, we need to deliver the goals as One United Nations and strive to pass the finishing line with no one and no place left behind.

In terms of prominence, UN-Habitat is much better positioned within the UN System with the Executive Director returning to the humanitarian cluster as a member of the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC). UN-Habitat is also contributing as co-Chair of the Local 2030 Task Force and is a member of the Task Force for the Future of Cities. We have been able to convene two highly visible World Urban Forums in Kuala Lumpur and Abu Dhabi respectively.