UN-Habitat, the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung Regional Programme Energy Security and Climate Change in Sub-Saharan Africa (KAS), and the University of Michigan (United States of America), through the project on Urban Law for Resilient and Low Carbon Urban Development in Malawi, Namibia, and Zimbabwe, were able to assess the capacity of climate laws and policies in Malawi to adapt to climate change. The assessment was done through the UN-Habitat Urban Law Module of the Law and Climate Change Toolkit…

In preparation for the 15th Conference of Parties (COP15) of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) to adopt the Global Biodiversity Framework, UN-Habitat has prepared a white paper Cities and Nature: Planning for the Future, which highlights new principles and actions to improve the quality of urbanization, recognizing the importance of nature in cities and the preventative role of spatial planning. It also offers a novel methodology to prioritize interventions along a preserve-conserve-…

Launch of the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework requires an integrated territorial (both urban and rural) approach for the sustainable management of biodiversity. Linkages between urban processes and rural transformation across municipalities, countries, and world regions are essential for biodiversity conservation. Urban-rural linkages are constituted by reciprocal and repetitive flows of people, goods, and financial and environmental services between specific rural, peri-urban, and…

This report provides an overview on the importance of the Informal Waste and Recovery Sector (IWRS) for ending plastic pollution. It outlines how the current negotiations towards a global instrument to end plastic pollution can leverage a just transition of the IWRS. It calls for the just transition of the IWRS to be fair, inclusive, and equitable, generating and preserving decent work opportunities in a way that leaves no one behind.

Through smart city initiatives, digital technologies are increasingly applied in cities to modernize city operations and transform service delivery. This report features findings from a systematic literature review and a global online survey completed by approximately 300 respondents, who have reported on the smart city governance practices of more than 250 municipalities in Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, and North America.

People living in cities around the world use a wide range of municipal services on a regular basis. Services provided to residents such as garbage collection, the provision of playgrounds, parking spaces, streetlights, affordable housing, social support and public transport all require a local government that is committed to facilitating good quality of life in the city. As city governments undergo digital transformation, the digital and physical aspects of the city become more closely…

The Gender Policy and Plan (GPP) 2020-2023 is UN-Habitat’s roadmap for promoting
gender equality throughout its work. It is aligned with the organizational Strategic
Plan (2020-2023) and supports the New Urban Agenda (NUA) and the Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs) through its contribution to their implementation. The GPP
elaborates the gender dimensions of the programmatic results and the relevant
indicators for measuring success, as well as steps to…

Cities for Girls, Cities for All is the report from the Vinnova Innovation for Gender Equality Project. It show cases the results of the Her City toolbox, the implementation of our partnership projects, but also provides guidelines for gender and intersectional sensitive participatory planning, design and implementation.