The Global Urban Monitoring Framework was endorsed by the UN Statistical Commission in March 2022 for implementation as part of the Harmonized Global UN Systemwide Strategy for monitoring the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and New Urban Agenda (NUA) and other regional, national, and subnational urban programs. It harmonizes existing urban indices and tools, including the widely implemented City Prosperity Index (CPI). The framework aims at ensuring thematic integration and interlinkages among various dimensions of development, disaggregation of data, and inclusion of groups that are traditionally excluded. It promotes working at different scales and functional urban areas, including ecological functional areas, enabling city comparability, and the possibility of more in-depth policy analysis.

The world we live in has been transformed in a manner not witnessed in recent times.  The coronavirus pandemic has triggered what arguably is the worst public health crisis in a century and the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression.  In a rapidly urbanizing and globalized world, cities have been the epicentres of COVID-19.  The virus has spread to virtually all parts of the world; first, among globally connected cities, and now, through community transmission and from the city to the countryside.

The World Cities Report 2020 shows that the intrinsic value of sustainable urbanization can and should be harnessed for the wellbeing of all. The Report provides evidence and policy analysis of the value of urbanization from an economic, social and environmental perspective, including the unquantifiable value that gives cities their unique character; and also explores the role of innovation and technology, local governments, targeted investments and the effective implementation of the New Urban Agenda in fostering the value of sustainable urbanization.

The World Cities Report 2020 convincingly affirms that well-planned, managed, and financed cities and towns create value that can be harnessed to build resilient cities that can bounce back from the devastating impacts of pandemics, improve the quality of life of all residents, and can be leveraged in the fight against poverty, inequality, unemployment, climate change and other pressing global challenges.

As the world enters the Decade of Action to deliver the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030, the policy recommendations in this Report will be beneficial to governments at all levels, enabling them deliver programmes and strategies that enhance the value of sustainable urbanization, and in the process, contribute to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals through the effective implementation of the New Urban Agenda.

Explore the interactive report.

Secretary General's Foreword

English | French | Portuguese | Russian | Spanish (PDF)

Executive Director's Introduction

Chinese | English | French | Portuguese | Russian | Spanish (PDF)

Key Findings and Message

Arabic | Chinese | English | French | Portuguese | Russian | Spanish (PDF)

World Cities Report 2020 Abridged Version

English | Japanese (PDF)

World Cities Report Chapters:

Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 (PDF)

This report documents an evaluation of the United Nations Human Settlement Programme’s (UN-Habitat’s) Strategic Plan 2014-2019. The evaluation assessed the achievements of UN-Habitat against the 2014- 2019 Strategic Plan in terms of achievements of expected results as well as the relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, coherence, sustainability and likely impact of the implementation of the Strategic Plan. Its design also sought to strengthen accountability mechanisms through increased discussion and communication between key stakeholders.

The evaluation also investigated UN-Habitat’s management practices, monitoring, reporting and learning mechanisms. This evaluation was driven by accountability and learning purposes, particularly drawing lessons from the 2014- 2019 Strategic Plan period to inform the implementation of the new UN-Habitat Strategy 2020-2023. Its intended audience is the newly formed UN-Habitat Executive Board, UN-Habitat management and staff, donors and other key partners.

Through a comparative analysis of the 19 cities of the Global Future Cities Programme, the report shares experiences and knowledge gained during the Programme’s Strategic Development Phase. It identifies common urban trends in urban planning, mobility, resilience and data, as well as underlying systemic barriers and enablers for sustainable urban development observed across the Global Future Cities. Strategic key takeaways are provided that will allow the Global Future Cities Programme to increase its impact on the cities’ and host countries’ capacity to deliver on the Sustainable Development Goals and the New Urban Agenda.

This report covers activities undertaken at the corporate, regional and country levels for the period March-August 2020. It outlines key areas which are shaping UN-Habitat’s work related to COVID-19 and the consequences of the global pandemic for longer-term work on post COVID-19, learning from this crisis and building back better cities for all.

Following World Health Organization’s declaration of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak as a global pandemic, in March 2020, UN-Habitat activated its emergency protocols and crisis response mechanisms. The COVID-19 Emergency Response Plan called for urgent and coordinated measures across three pillars: staff safety and security, business continuity and emergency programmatic response and coordination.

UN-Habitat intensified efforts to mobilize new resources to deliver UN-Habitat’s Response Plan and scale up support to countries and cities. At the same time, UN-Habitat immediately reached out to funding partners to minimize the disruption of the yearly workplan, by reprogramming resources and channelling energy to contribute to the response within the framework of the Business Continuity Plan.

《加强城市安全与保障 全球人类住区报告2007》分析了对城市安全和保障造成威胁的三个主要问题，分别是：城市犯罪与暴力，房屋／土地保有权缺乏保障和强制驱逐，以及自然和人为灾害。报告分析了世界范围内这些问题存在的条件和发展趋势，着力强调了它们的潜在成因及影响，并列举了在城市、国家和全球层面行之有效的政策和措施。报告从人类安全的角度出发，关注人类的安全与保障问题而非国家安全问题，而且这些问题可以通过有效的城市政策、规划、设计及治理措施得到解决。