The 2025 Annual Report of the Policy and Legislation Section (PLS) presents a year of steady progress in advancing sustainable urban development. Through diverse initiatives and collaborative partnerships with donors, development partners, and countries, UN-Habitat through PLS has continued to strengthen policy, legislative, and governance frameworks at national and subnational levels. The report also identifies emerging priorities that will guide the Section’s work in 2026, supporting global…

National Urban Policies (NUPs) serves as a key guiding frameworks towards the realization of the New Urban Agenda and Sustainable Urbanization. The Korea-funded National Urban Policy Programme contributes to this by not only supporting countries in developing and implementing NUPs but also strengthening the capacity of relevant stakeholders. The 2024-2025 Annual Report shows the progress of the programme implementation at global and local scale among the eight participating countries of Phase 2…

​​Rapid Municipal Assessment of conflict-affected areas in Lebanon, presenting key findings on service delivery, infrastructure damage, and municipal capacities to support evidence-based recovery and humanitarian planning.​

UN-Habitat’s Catalogue of Solutions presents the organization’s portfolio of tested tools, methodologies and advisory support designed to help countries, cities and communities address today’s most pressing urban challenges. The catalogue brings together solutions developed through decades of UN-Habitat’s global experience, providing practical pathways for advancing inclusive, resilient and sustainable urban development.

These solutions respond to the urgent need to improve…

The Urban October Report 2025 highlights global discussions and actions on sustainable urbanization held throughout October. The month opened with World Habitat Day in Nairobi under the theme “Urban Crisis Response,” focusing on how cities can address displacement, climate shocks and growing housing needs through inclusive planning, adequate housing and access to basic services. It closed with World Cities Day in Bogotá under the theme “People-centred Smart Cities,” exploring how digital…

Projections indicate that by 2050, urban populations will grow by 2.3 billion, challenging the capacity of existing city systems., posing a vital question: Can 10 percent of a city's current resources
support its sustainable high-quality development? “AI + City” provides the answer, transforming fragmented silos into synergistic systems that significantly enhance efficiency. This report delivers the City Intelligence framework, four-phase roadmap, twelve cases and the “AI + City”…

Rapid demographic growth and urban expansion are transforming intermediary cities in Kenya and Mozambique. However, limited governance and planning capacity – along with scarce financial resources – are driving these cities towards car-dependent systems, which lock in carbon emissions, reduce accessibility and undermine quality of life. Without timely intervention, current choices risk embedding high emissions and social inequalities for decades to come.

Building on the OECD…