Montego Bay, 2 July 2018 — Last week in Montego Bay, Jamaica, UN-Habitat convened a workshop as part the “Pro-Poor Planning of Climate Resilience in Marginalized Neighbourhoods” Project, an initiative focussing on five cities in the world. The objective is to advance in understanding the impact of climate change on slum dwellers and the possible interventions likely to help vulnerable communities to address the many challenges ahead in informal settlements.

Khartoum 2 July 2018-- UN-Habitat Sudan and Ministry of International Cooperation, the Government of Sudan recently signed the  Habitat Country Programme Document Sudan 2018-2021 in Khartoum.

La Paz, 28 June 2018 - Over 50 Bolivian and international urban and rural experts recently met in La Paz, Bolivia, drafting recommendations on how to include considerations on integrated territorial development and urban-rural linkages into National Urban Policies.

Mwanza, 28 June 2018--Residents of the informal settlements of Mabatini, Igogo and Kilimahewa in Mwanza, Tanzania have a reason to smile as they access safe sanitation and clean water in the rocky hills of Mwanza.

Urban Heritage & Transformation: Wuhan, China.

UN-Habitat in collaboration with the Wuhan Land Use and Spatial Planning Research Centre (WLSP) is looking for creative and innovative urban design ideas from students for a vacant waterfront site in inner-city Wuhan, China. The competition is part of the UN-Habitat – WLSP programme “People Orientated Urban Public Spaces” and covers the following key themes:

Grodno, 1 June 2018

From 31 May to 1 June 2018, in Grodno, republic of Belarus, over 75 people (including 30% women), participated in the workshop on “Sustainable urban planning and housing: national priorities of the Republic of Belarus and best international practices”. The two days workshop was jointly organised by three United Nations Agencies: United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) and Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat). Participants represented including international experts, national, regional and local authorities.

UN-Habitat Deputy Executive Director Dr. Aisa Kirabo Kacyira launched a new report that investigates the effect of foreign direct investment on the continent’s cities.

 The State of African Cities 2018 report says that foreign firms and investors in African cities can play a catalytic role in the development of the continent.

 Speaking during the event, Dr. Kacyira said the report was a ground breaking one because instead of focusing on urbanisation, it was looking at foreign direct investment.

The World Cities Day global observance will be held this year in Liverpool, United Kingdom, on 31 October. The announcement was made today by the Mayor of Liverpool, Joe Anderson at the International Business Festival being hosted in the city.

UN-Habitat will provide support to the 1st ever global Sustainable Blue Economy Conference (SBEC) that will be held in Nairobi, Kenya from 26 – 28 November 2018 at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre (KICC).

Nairobi 13 June 2018—UN-Habitat and the Xuzhou Municipal Government this week signed an MoU aimed at promoting ecological restoration and sustainable development.