Kuala Lumpur, 9 February 2018 –The UN-Habitat Executive Director today announced the theme of World Cities Day 2018: Building Sustainable and Resilient Cities.

The announcement was made at the World Cities Day Forum held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, during the Ninth session of the World Urban Forum (WUF9) currently underway. The Executive Director was joined in the session by Mr. Ni Hong, Vice-Minister of Housing and Urban-Rural Development and Mr. Huang Rong, Deputy Secretary-General of the Shanghai Municipality.

The United Nations has designated 31 October every year as World Cities Day. The Day is expected to greatly promote the international community’s interest in global urbanization, push forward cooperation among countries in meeting opportunities and addressing challenges of urbanization, and contributing to sustainable urban development around the world.

The World Cities Day was established on 27 December 2013 by the UN General Assembly.

The general theme of World Cities Day is Better City, Better Life, while each year a different sub-theme is selected, to either promote successes of urbanization, or address specific challenges resulting from urbanization.