This publication provides comprehensive recommen­dations for designing safer urban streets tailored to the context of Afghan cities. It outlines essential principles that can be adapted to enhance road safety and su­pport sustainable mobility in the urban context. 

Drawing from both international best practices and a thorough analysis of local urban conditions, this publication aims to address current safety challenges while promoting safer, more accessible, and vibrant streetscapes. This publication is not a technical document for dimensioning and construction. International organisations have alre­ady elaborated these guides, such as the Urban Street Design Guide developed by NACTO. This publication is constrained to the Afghan context will serve as a resour­ce for Afghan city planners, engineers, and policymakers guiding the development of resilient and inclusive urban environments throughout Afghanistan. The recommen­dations made in this document build upon the already existing documents developed by MUHD and Sasaki (2022) for various Afghan cities. 

Afghanistan is a country of extremes: extreme beauty, an extremely strategic location, and a country with many natural resources and extremely resilient people but is still a country where people face extreme socio-economic and human rights challenges.

The Afghanistan Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan (HRNP) 2025 names climate change-induced and natural hazards, inadequate or lack of service provision, decades of conflict and geopolitical dynamics, a weak economy and the socio-political restrictions (among many others) reasons, why almost half of the population were estimated to require humanitarian assistance of any form.

UN-Habitat has been supporting the people of Afghanistan since 1992. As the agency has just launched a new strategic plan at global level for 2026-2029, this paper focuses on strategic priorities for UN-Habitat Afghanistan for 2026 and 2027. Those priorities have been defined through analysis of the agency’s (and other partners’) data and the consultations with the communities and people in Afghanistan and are in alignment with the agency’s overall mandate, the global priorities and the agency’s role in the United Nations family in Afghanistan and the agreed upon priorities at country level (UNSFA 2023-2027).

For our team at UN-Habitat Afghanistan, those priorities will be:
A.    Support the most vulnerable people by creating and enabling dignified living conditions and livelihood opportunities with a specific focus on those living in unplanned, underserviced and informal settlements 
B.    Enhance preparedness, response, recovery, and reconstruction
C.     Accelerate environmental and climate actions to save lives, livelihoods and assets

Acknowledging that women and girls, displaced people but also other marginalized groups are most at risk of being left behind in Afghanistan at the time of writing, we are committed to inclusive, participatory and gender-sensitive solutions and striving towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and based on the New Urban Agenda as a shared vision for a better and more sustainable future.
 

Afghanistan is a country of extremes: extreme beauty, an extremely strategic location,
and a country with many natural resources and extremely resilient people but is still a
country where people face extreme socio-economic and human rights challenges.

The Afghanistan Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan (HRNP) 2025 names climate
change-induced and natural hazards, inadequate or lack of service provision, decades of
conflict and geopolitical dynamics, a weak economy and the socio-political restrictions
(among many others) reasons, why almost half of the population were estimated to
require humanitarian assistance of any form.

UN-Habitat has been supporting the people of Afghanistan since 1992. As the agency
has just launched a new strategic plan at global level for 2026-2029, this paper focuses
on strategic priorities for UN-Habitat Afghanistan for 2026 and 2027. Those priorities
have been defined through analysis of the agency’s (and other partners’) data and the
consultations with the communities and people in Afghanistan and are in alignment with
the agency’s overall mandate, the global priorities and the agency’s role in the United
Nations family in Afghanistan and the agreed upon priorities at country level (UNSFA
2023-2027).

For our team at UN-Habitat Afghanistan, those priorities will be:
A.    Support the most vulnerable people by creating and enabling dignified living
conditions and livelihood opportunities with a specific focus on those living in
unplanned, underserviced and informal settlements 
B.    Enhance preparedness, response, recovery, and reconstruction
C.     Accelerate environmental and climate actions to save lives, livelihoods and assets

Acknowledging that women and girls, displaced people but also other marginalized
groups are most at risk of being left behind in Afghanistan at the time of writing, we are
committed to inclusive, participatory and gender-sensitive solutions and striving towards
achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and based on the New Urban
Agenda as a shared vision for a better and more sustainable future.

Afghanistan is a country of extremes: extreme beauty, an extremely strategic location,
and a country with many natural resources and extremely resilient people but is still a
country where people face extreme socio-economic and human rights challenges.

The Afghanistan Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan (HRNP) 2025 names climate
change-induced and natural hazards, inadequate or lack of service provision, decades of
conflict and geopolitical dynamics, a weak economy and the socio-political restrictions
(among many others) reasons, why almost half of the population were estimated to
require humanitarian assistance of any form.

UN-Habitat has been supporting the people of Afghanistan since 1992. As the agency
has just launched a new strategic plan at global level for 2026-2029, this paper focuses
on strategic priorities for UN-Habitat Afghanistan for 2026 and 2027. Those priorities
have been defined through analysis of the agency’s (and other partners’) data and the
consultations with the communities and people in Afghanistan and are in alignment with
the agency’s overall mandate, the global priorities and the agency’s role in the United
Nations family in Afghanistan and the agreed upon priorities at country level (UNSFA
2023-2027).

For our team at UN-Habitat Afghanistan, those priorities will be:
A.    Support the most vulnerable people by creating and enabling dignified living
conditions and livelihood opportunities with a specific focus on those living in
unplanned, underserviced and informal settlements 
B.    Enhance preparedness, response, recovery, and reconstruction
C.     Accelerate environmental and climate actions to save lives, livelihoods and assets

Acknowledging that women and girls, displaced people but also other marginalized
groups are most at risk of being left behind in Afghanistan at the time of writing, we are
committed to inclusive, participatory and gender-sensitive solutions and striving towards
achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and based on the New Urban
Agenda as a shared vision for a better and more sustainable future.
 

This framework represents a comprehensive guide for Arab countries emerging from conflict and crisis situations to design and implement sustainable reconstruction activities that accelerate efforts towards building forward better. Drawing on analyses of over 100 reports and consultations with multiple stakeholders across relevant sectors, including government officials, planners, investors, and others, in Iraq, Libya, the State of Palestine, Sudan, and elsewhere, the framework serves as an operational tool laying out valuable insights and practical recommendations for action by governments and partners across the region.

The Arab States region is subject to ongoing challenges from political upheavals, socio-economic disparities, conflicts and terrorism to natural disasters, desertification, periodic dust and sandstorms, and water scarcity. The cumulative impacts lead to significant pressures on and, at times, an outright destruction of infrastructure, displacement of populations, and environmental degradation. Sustainable reconstruction is an important component for any post-conflict and post-crisis strategy that can contribute to sustainable and lasting peace, stability, and prosperity.

This report explores some of the critical challenges that converge at the intersection of climate change and land governance. Some of these challenges are droughts, desertification, disaster risk, land and water management, land degradation and restoration, soil erosion and conservation, biodiversity, and food security. In examining these challenges in the context of the Arab region, the report aims to:

• Create new knowledge based on existing sources of information and data as well as expert experiences and recommendations.
• Contribute to contextualizing and developing internationally negotiated frameworks on land governance and climate change in ways that recognize land tenure-related challenges in different regional geographic contexts.
• Help relevant central governments, local authorities, and concerned civil society organizations in the Arab region to understand, better, the interrelation between climate-related challenges and land and natural resources management (specifically, water).
• Stimulate policy debates and encourage further research on the topic, particularly policy-oriented research that seeks to promote effective land management and administration tools to protect the land tenure rights of vulnerable groups against climate change effects.

The report builds on the recommendations of key international frameworks related to climate and land that Arab countries have endorsed. It also relies on relevant literature and well-founded arguments that consider good land governance as a crucial factor in stabilizing vulnerable communities and enhancing their resilience to shocks and stresses, including the adverse impacts of climate change on land and property rights. The report covers urban and rural areas, agrarian and pastoralist communities, natural resource-based conflicts, forced migration, and displacements. Questions of access to and control over land and natural resources are core concerns throughout the report in view of land inequalities and plural land tenure arrangements that characterize Arab countries.

This report provides an overview on the importance of the Informal Waste and Recovery Sector (IWRS) for ending plastic pollution. It outlines how the current negotiations towards a global instrument to end plastic pollution can leverage a just transition of the IWRS. It calls for the just transition of the IWRS to be fair, inclusive, and equitable, generating and preserving decent work opportunities in a way that leaves no one behind. This involves enabling IWRS workers to pursue their livelihoods in a dignified manner, by their choice either inside or outside of the sector and involving stakeholders impacted by the transition in the development and implementation process. Key elements of a just transition of the IWRS include official and legislative recognition, protection of human and labour rights, access to social services and health schemes, and fair payment for work for all IWRS stakeholders. These are key considerations to bring to the first meeting of the INC but are also basic elements of promoting a just transition in local and national policies that aim to formalize and integrate informal waste and recovery workers as part of strategies to end plastic pollution.

In this edition, UN-Habitat Lebanon’s Urban Digest, highlights the programme’s updates on several of the agency’s ongoing projects in the country, a wrap-up of the first National Urban Forum of Lebanon, a deep dive into Beirut’s urban recovery efforts while the country suffers from an ever-deepening socio-economic and financial crisis. The newsletter also features key updates on the programme’s projects.

Through smart city initiatives, digital technologies are increasingly applied in cities to modernize city operations and transform service delivery. The ongoing digital transformation provides new opportunities but also creates challenges, and it is increasingly apparent that delivering effective urban digital services is a complex task. Nowadays, smart city projects are typically driven by technology and little attention is given to governance dynamics. In addition, the novelty and complexity of many smart city initiatives make it difficult for public sector organizations to fully grasp how to effectively manage digital transformation processes.

As many cities and public sector organizations across the world have been experimenting with smart city initiatives, their actions have generated a data-rich environment from which to learn. As such, this report features findings from a systematic literature review and a global online survey completed by approximately 300 respondents, who have reported on the smart city governance practices of more than 250 municipalities in Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, and North America.

With the objective to support both urban managers and practitioners, the report highlights several dimensions for effective smart city governance and ways to foster a people-centered approach to smart cities. It serves as a knowledge resource to present best practices, gaps in smart city governance mechanisms, and the various elements to consider when governing the planning and implementation of smart city initiatives.

The report is part of UN-Habitat’s strategy to promote a people-centered approach to digital transformation supporting local governments in establishing the right capacities, regulatory frameworks, collaborations and arrangements for using technology to advance human developments and show commitment to human rights, both in online and offline environments.

People living in cities around the world use a wide range of municipal services on a regular basis. Services provided to residents such as garbage collection, the provision of playgrounds, parking spaces, streetlights, affordable housing, social support and public transport all require a local government that is committed to facilitating good quality of life in the city. As city governments undergo digital transformation, the digital and physical aspects of the city become more closely connected with digital technologies being used to deliver services, manage urbanisation processes and communicate with residents. In some aspects it is becoming difficult to distinguish between offline and online services.

This online and offline connectedness is impacting public life in our cities and affects different groups across communities differently. The use of digital technologies, platforms and data by governments and the private sector affect urban residents, sometimes in unforeseen or unintended ways. For example, young women may face cultural and gender-related barriers that prevent their access to the internet and technology. Ethnic minorities and people on low incomes have high demand for the internet, but often struggle with lack of affordability. Such groups lack not only access, they also experience lower quality of digital services.

This publication refers to human rights in the digital context as ‘digital rights’. These are not new human rights. ‘Digital’ rights are interpreted as existing human rights which need to be protected in the context of digital technologies, as physical and digital spaces are increasingly intertwined. Digital rights assess how digital technology affects previously recognized rights – i.e., civil, political, economical, social and cultural rights. These rights form the basis of commitments described in this report and emphasise a culture for more inclusive and responsible use of technology.