​​Can mega-events create lasting urban value beyond the global spotlight? This white paper explores how mega events like World Expos, Olympic Games, and FIFA World Cups can become catalysts for sustainable, inclusive, and resilient cities through legacy-driven planning, adaptive design, and community-centered urban transformation.​

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…

​This report documents how nine cities across Africa, Asia-Pacific, Arab States, Eastern Europe and Latin America have implemented the New Urban Agenda through integrated planning, multi-level governance, and capacity-building. It captures lessons, mind-shifts, and implementation pathways that accelerate SDG 11 and sustainable urban transformation

Transforming agro-food to advance food security while promoting sustainable industrialisation in developing countries is an urgent priority. Intermediary cities, as vital connectors between urban and rural areas, are piloting innovative solutions to drive this transformation through food-tech. This policy brief examines how innovation ecosystems in intermediary cities can contribute to achieving net-zero emissions and zero hunger and presents key recommendations for development policy. It has…

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”…