By 2050, an additional 2.5 billion people will be living in the world’s towns and cities, with almost 50 per cent of that growth taking place in the Commonwealth. Member States, both large and small, are facing the impacts of climate change and rapid urbanization. The COVID-19 pandemic has compounded these, and progress towards achievement of the SDGs has been eroded in many countries, undermining the first year of the Decade of Action towards Agenda 2030.

The Future of Asian & Pacific Cities Report 2023 entitled, Crisis Resilient Urban Futures, is a comprehensive analysis and assessment of sustainable urban development in the Asia and Pacific region at a time of great disruption and uncertainty resulting from multiple interlinked global crises in a post-pandemic era.

This report aims to provide valuable insights into the spatial, economic, social, environmental and governance aspects of cities, offering holistic policy…

The UN-Habitat Regional Office for the Arab States, located in Cairo, supports 18 countries in the region to promote socially and environmentally sustainable cities. In a rapidly urbanising region, UN-Habitat envisions well-planned and well-governed cities through focusing on adequate housing, urban recovery, access to basic services, public spaces, policy and governance, housing, land and property rights, localisation of the Sustainable Development Goals and climate action.

The State of Arab Cities report covers various issues that currently characterise the Arab region. The report presents the state of urbanisation in the region, with its key drivers and urbanisation trends and explores a selection of major challenges and opportunities in the region. The report then presents the need for a paradigm shift in urban infrastructure, illustrating emerging infrastructure opportunities that could contribute towards building a more sustainable future for cities, and…

The ASEAN Sustainable Urbanisation Report aims to capture the diversity of urban contexts across ASEAN Member States, in particular the increasing importance of secondary cities and the need to fully harness their potential. It seeks to support a shared understanding of the opportunities and challenges of urbanisation and highlight common ways forward for a sustainable urban future.

Aligned with the ASEAN Sustainable Urbanisation Strategy (ASUS), the Report offers updated…

This report explores some of the critical challenges that converge at the intersection of climate change and land governance. Some of these challenges are droughts, desertification, disaster risk, land and water management, land degradation and restoration, soil erosion and conservation, biodiversity, and food security.

This publication provides the basis for a much-needed Urban Resilience Framework, including an examination of urban disaster risk and resilience in the SADC region, vulnerability profiles for each country, city level analyses of vulnerability, and measures to foster institutional and policy discussions.

The evaluation of UN-Habitat's Housing Approach aimed to assess the agency's efforts in promoting adequate housing for all and sustainable urbanization, addressing the challenge of rapid urbanization leading to the spread of slums in developing regions. The Housing Approach focuses on policy reform, operationalizing housing strategies, and implementing housing programs and projects, and its performance was evaluated based on five fundamental activities. The ultimate goal is to…

The urbanization of the Arab States Region has led to migration, displacement, and climatic conditions due to population growth, development, and economic imbalance. The Arab Strategy for Housing and Sustainable Urban Development 2030 identifies challenges such as high population growth, rural-urban immigration, displacement due to political instability and natural disasters, and security issues. Policies involving governance and dialogue can promote sustainable urbanization. UN-Habitat's…