Abu Dhabi, 12 February 2020 - The Indonesian city of Surabaya will host the Global Observation of World Habitat Day this year on Monday 5 October.

Following the selection of Surabaya, a Letter of Intent was signed during the Tenth Session of the World Urban Forum, the world’s largest global meeting on sustainable urbanization in Abu Dhabi by the UN-Habitat Executive Director, Ms Maimunah Mohd Sharif and the Indonesian Permanent Representative to UN-Habitat, Mr Soehardjono Sastromihardjo.

The United Nations has designated the first Monday of October of every year as World Habitat Day.

“I am delighted that Surabaya has been chosen as the host of this prestigious event. The city is an important partner for UN-Habitat and it can offer many examples of best practices,” said the UN-Habitat Executive Director. “We will be working very closely together over the next eight months to ensure World Habitat Day has a lasting impact on the future of our cities.”

Mayor Tri Rismaharini of Surabaya was elected in 2010 and re-elected in 2016. During her tenure she has won a number of awards including the UN-Habitat Scroll of Honour in 2018 for Implementing people-centred and inclusive city regeneration and development initiatives prioritising low income residents to ensure they are not left behind.

World Habitat Day was established in 1985 by the United Nations General Assembly through Resolution 40/202 and was first celebrated in 1986. Each year, World Habitat Day takes a new theme to bring attention to UN-Habitat’s mandate to promote sustainable development policies.