Laws and effects of their application can either facilitate or undermine human rights and inclusivity. The urban space represents an area in which the paradoxical nature of legal frameworks is exhibited. On the positive aspect, urban law can provide a framework through which various public and private interests are mediated especially in relation to land use and development. It can offer a stable and predictable framework for public and private sector action and give an avenue for the inclusion…

Pacific Islands are very diverse regarding their levels and rates of urbanization and how public policy addresses urban development. However, many countries in the region have made significant strides to address urbanization challenges and to harness its opportunities. This document provides an urban policy overview, focussing on eight countries. The document concludes with a set of recommendations.

Ce rapport de 279 pages est l’une des études devant servir de base aux activités conceptuelles du « Programme SANITA Villes Durables » en Guinée. Il dresse un état des lieux du développement urbain et des politiques publiques devant permettre d’élaborer, entre autres, (i) une politique urbaine nationale (PUN), (ii) un nouveau Schéma national d’aménagement du territoire et (iii) un Schéma d’urbanisme du Grand Conakry.

Local authorities have played a major role to curtail COVID-19, particularly in vulnerable urban settings, while maintaining critical services.
To identify problems and suggest solutions, UN-Habitat assessed 34 Unions of Municipalities and 5 individual municipalities, covering 52 per cent of Lebanese municipalities. The report highlights key urban challenges and proposes several mitigating measures.

Special Economic Zones (SEZs) have been a popular policy instrument to stimulate economic growth. It has widely been used globally in both developed and developing countries. While this is true, this paper finds that SEZ policy varies across countries based on different stages of development. But what are the interlinkages between SEZs and the megatrend of urbanization? Should SEZ policy objectives and design be contextualized to urban scenarios? To answer these questions, UN-Habitat partnered…

The issue brief on “Integrated Territorial approaches to the COVID-19” is part of the ongoing response initiatives by UN-Habitat in the light of Covid-19 pandemic. It provides a framework to enhance flows of people, goods, information and services while integrating interventions such as social protection and health services provision to slow infection rates.

This analysis, based on data from 59 low- and middle-income countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, Central and Southern Asia, and sub-Saharan Africa, finds that women and their families bear the brunt of growing income inequality and failures to adequately plan for and respond to rapid urbanization. The data show that in 80 per cent of countries analysed, women are overrepresented in urban slums among those aged 15 to 49.4 At the root of this phenomenon are gender-based inequalities that…

This technical guide aims to describe the urban observatory model and to provide the necessary guidance on how to set up and maintain an urban observatory by local and national governments, city leaders and various stakeholders involved in monitoring, reporting and making investment and policy decisions at the local and national urban levels.

This guide provides governments with practical opportunities for incorporating urban climate action and human settlement issues into NDC revision and enhancement processes. It is primarily targeted at national governments, specifically NDC coordination teams, but also provides insights for sub-national governments, the wider urban community, networks and non-governmental organisations aiming to support NDC enhancement and implementation process. It includes promising examples from submitted…