The Future Saudi Cities Programme is a joint programme developed by the Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs in Saudi Arabia and UN-Habitat, implemented in close cooperation with the municipalities of 17 major Saudi cities, the cities have been selected based on their different population sizes, geographic distribution, and a range of criteria based on capacities and economic potential to create a more balanced regional development among the cities of Saudi Arabia. The chosen cities include Riyadh, Makkah, Jeddah, Taif, Madinah, Tabuk,Dammam, Qatif, Al-Ahsa, Abha, Najran, Jazan, Hael, Arar, AlBaha, Buraidah, and Skaka. one of FSCP outcomes is the city profiles.

The city-profile performs as a thinking tool that constitutes together an assessment tool and guidance for the current and future planning of the city, whilst defining a clear strategy for sustainable development. This tool is based on the UN-Habitat’s three-pronged approach considers spatial planning in relation to legal and institutional frameworks, in addition to financial mechanisms. In this way, success criteria for the sustainable implementation of a spatial plan should include flexible but enforceable rules and regulations, in addition to a financing strategy and projections. The City Profile Methodology, that is applied to AlBaha, is contenting the following steps:

1. Evidence based input approach.
2. The City reviews.
3. The City Prosperity Index assessment report.
4. The GIS spatial analysis.

In 2012, UN-Habitat launched its Global Public Space Programme, now active in more than 75 cities across the world, with the objective to promote public spaces as a keystone for sustainable cities in order to ensure good quality of life for all. 

The Global Public Space Programme is a consolidated and integrated approach to public space improvement across UN-Habitat. Over the last seven years, we have developed an iterative approach to public space that includes a variety of normative and operational tools, methodologies and practices that support local and national governments and other partners to make public spaces more safe, inclusive, accessible and green. This includes public space assessments, policy guides, strategies and design principles, capacity building, participatory tools, technology and innovation projects and carrying out advocacy work and actual implementation.

Together with local government and civil society partners, the programme has implemented more than 105 concrete public space upgrading projects selected through annual expressions of interests. Our work has been proven to be effective in achieving social, economic and environmental benefits. The good policy and practices that we have on a global level is shared through a network of more than hundred partner organizations.

Global commitment to the inclusive right to adequate housing was renewed at the Third United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development – Habitat III. Housing will hence prove central to the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal 11: ‘Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable’.

Across the  Arab region, around 18 % of residents live under each country’s national poverty line, with significant variation between the Gulf countries, which have an average per capita income of USD 29,000, and the Southern Tier countries (not including Somalia), which have an average per capita income of USD 1,300. Also significant disparities continue to exist between rural and urban areas. Informal Settlements have become the reflection of the mirror of poverty and lack of access to adequate housing.

Slums versus informal settlements: the term 'slum' is a "general context to describe a wide range of low-income settlements and/or poor human living conditions". Different criteria are used to define slums include physical, spatial, social and behavioral criterion. Informal or spontaneous settlements are settlements whereby persons, or squatters, assert land rights or occupy for exploitation of land which is not registered in their names, or government land, or land legally owned by other individuals. Squatters are people who occupy land or buildings without the explicit permission of the owner. The structures and location of the informal settlements of the region are characterized by two different patterns: substandard or makeshift structures in central slums, hazardous, and unsafe locations or suburban areas lacking access to basic services; and unplanned urban expansion mostly through the subdivision of agricultural land in violation of existing codes.

At this stage of the analysis, the data collection process was limited. It is based on two elements:

• A questionnaire filled by National focal points in some countries with variable quality and comprehensiveness of the information provided.
• Data based on literature review and research networks.
• Two-days Consultation workshop with representation from most Arab countries, development partners and civil society organizations where the data prepared was presented, discussed and further information was gathered in parallel thematic groups.

This report provides an overview of the status of informal settlements in the main Arab countries where data was accessible; explores the reasons of emergence, national definitions and forms of informality, national responding approaches and strategies; in addition to highlighting some useful case studies from these countries. This overview provides guidance to national governments by offering a preliminary framework for the preparation of national or local informal settlement upgrading strategies grounded in international and regional best practices and recognizing approaches and regional and national challenges.

The analysis of the different countries focused on the potential lessons learned through highlighting the  advancement level of their public policies responding to informal settlements, the mapping processes of their informal settlements, their physical state and socio-economic situations, the presence of pilot projects, and the involvement of the private sector or innovative finance mechanisms in the upgrading process.

Despite the data limitation, the review and analysis presented by country  conducted in this report enabled some observations on the common and specific challenges, the importance of social and economic aspects of informality, the need for innovative financial and governance mechanisms, and the importance of participation for sustainable strategies and programmes. The review of all approaches that have been addressed in different Arab countries and the examples of the different projects could be concluded in such in some main items as follows: The investment, financial and environmental impacts in most of cases not been tackled and there was concentration on the physical, and sometime social, aspects only. The sustainability of development aspects (financial, social, environmental) of projects has not been addressed in most of cases and there will be risks of sustainability of the development of the projects in future. This would emphasize the need for an integrated development approach to be embraced in development of informal settlement.

The overview also shows large possibility of cross learning among the region, specifically between comparable countries, or those whose political or governance situations are similar. The conclusion also highlights key cross cutting issues that have to be mainstreamed in upgrading approaches and programmes, namely: environment, migration and displacement, finance, gender, participation and local government.

Finally, the report lays out the way forward towards the formulation of the new programme -to be launched in WUF 10- “Towards Arab Cities without Informal areas” where this report and analysis present the first step, followed by the launch of a call for Arab cities to join the first phase of the programme supported by UN-Habitat in cooperation with the Islamic Development Bank. The regional programme will continue to learn from early implementation phases to support progressing of Arab cities that are inclusive, resilient and productive; integrating various sustainable goals and programs to ensure leaving no one, and nowhere behind.

Political upheaval or violent conflict is often characterised by a fundamental failure of governance, and the destruction of local economies, and yet in the aftermath of conflict people reconstruct their livelihoods and rebuild urban services through informal mechanisms of survival and support. This report explores the response of the urban informal economy to urban crises, its role in poverty reduction, peace building and development in post-conflict cities, and its scope as a platform for economic recovery and resilience. With a focus on urban areas in post-civil war settings, and on cities affected by ongoing turf wars, the research explores the complex drivers of conflict and the resilience and recovery of the informal economy.

The report is a synthesis of a three-year research project on Economic Recovery in Post-Conflict Cities: The Role of the Urban Informal Economy, funded under the DFID-ESRC Joint Fund for Poverty Alleviation Research (Project ES-M008789-1). Fieldwork was carried out in five cities: Cali, Colombia; Dohuk, N. Iraq; Hargeisa, Somaliland; Karachi, Pakistan, and Kathmandu, Nepal. Each city was selected to explore the different facets of conflict and violence in order to study the informal economy’s crisis response in the widest possible contexts

The UN-Habitat Strategic Plan 2014-2019 identifies four Cross-Cutting Issues to be mainstreamed: Climate Change, Gender Equality, Human Rights and Youth. The aim of mainstreaming these issues is to support country, regional and thematic offices, in order to ensure that all UN-Habitat work is targeting those furthest behind and promoting socially and environmentally sustainable cities. Mainstreaming does not require that each and every project directly aims to address and solve these issues, but rather that they are contributing to the larger long-term goals of UN-Habitat, the New Urban Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals.

The position for women in Ugandan society could be considered one of power - lessness: influenced by a range of factors including social norms and practices that prevent their full participation in the world of work (WoW), inequitable gender paygaps, and a variety of barriers in women’s professional and personal lives. In order to better understand how to change these social norms and facilitate women’s equitable inclusion in the WoW, UN-Habitat undertook a policy analysis at the municipal level in Uganda on existing national and municipal policies, laws and frameworks. 

The study also resonates with the gender-responsive nature of the recently adopt - ed New Urban Agenda (NUA), which has been adopted to guide urban centres. This is to occur, “by ensuring women’s full and effective participation and equal rights in all fields and in leadership at all levels of decision-making; by ensuring decent work and equal pay for equal work, or work of equal value, for all women; and by pre - venting and eliminating all forms of discrimination, violence and harassment against women and girls in private and public spaces”

"The Cross-cutting Progress Report 2016 covers UN-Habitat’s activities and achievements, during the course of 2016, in the way of its four cross-cutting issues: climate change, gender, human rights, and youth. The Report presents an overview of the mandate and structure of each of the cross-cutting issues, as well as presenting case studies of the Agency’s work on the ground relating to these issues.

The four cross-cutting issues were formalised in 2013 and have since then increasingly worked toward joint normative efforts. For example, the Cross-cutting Project Markers were released in September 2015 and are applied to projects at the Project Advisory Group (PAG) to assess responsiveness to these issues in projects. As of September 2016 all Cross-cutting Project Markers have been uniformly applied by the Programme Division."