We live in an urban world: more than 55 per cent of the world population lives in urban areas today and this number will grow to 68 per cent by 2050. Cities are particularly vulnerable to Climate Change as the concentrate large populations and a centres for the national economy and social-economic development. In order to build the climate resilience of the national population and economy, building resilient cities and human settlements is essential. National Adaptation Plans are the most important process to articulate the adaptation needs and priorities of countries, and therefore countries should comprehensively address urban and human settlement issues in National Adaptation Plans (NAPs) at the formulation and implementation stage.

The guide primarily targets decision-makers at the national level working on NAPs, both within and outside UNFCCC focal point ministries, while it also targets a broader set of stakeholders at the national and sub-national levels who are interested in NAPs or who may be involved in their implementation. This guide has been developed to address the support countries require to enhance the coverage of human settlement/urban issues within the broader national effort to formulate and implement NAPs. The supplement also offers advice on how adaptation efforts at the urban level can be scaled up and better integrated into national efforts.

Urbanization is one of the global megatrends of our time, unstoppable and irreversible. In 30 years, two-thirds of the world’s population will live in urban areas; 90 per cent of this urban growth will take place in less developed regions such as East Asia, South Asia, and Sub-Saharan Africa. These are regions where capacity and resources are already constrained, and development challenges are ever more complex and concentrated. Urbanization in such areas is largely unplanned, fuelling the continuous growth of informal settlements, the physical manifestation of urban poverty and inequality. Currently home to some 1 billion people, informal settlements are where the impact of climate change is most acute and where resilience must be strengthened.

Climate Change is big news all over the world. Ironically, water usually finds mention in the footnotes even though it is arguably the principal adverse fall-out of changing climate patterns and extreme weather events. Since 2008, more than half of the world’s population already lived in cities. This figure continues to grow, particularly in Africa and Asia, and coastal urban centres receive a disproportionate share of this growth. Urbanization can be a positive force, however safe, adequate, and predictable water supplies are a necessary feature of sustainable urban development.

The study seeks to inform the update and revision of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) National Spatial Strategy by analyzing five international experiences on national spatial frameworks and identifying sustainable and progressive approaches. Case studies include Republic of Korea, Germany, Malaysia, Morocco and China,Germany. Each country has been selected through a set of criteria collaboratively set by the UN-Habitat Headquarters and Riyadh Office.

The case studies provide a cross section of experiences that can be used to inform the revision of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s (KSA) National Spatial Strategy. This diverse group of countries, experiencing both unique and common development issues, have adapted their own National Spatial Frameworks (NSFs) based on their country’s social and political context. At the same time, they address local and international pressures experienced through rapid urbanization, climate and environmental risks, and an increasingly globalized world.

The Guiding Principles for City Climate Action Planning reviews typical steps in the city-level climate action planning process in light of a proposed set of globally applicable principles. These principles, shown below, developed through a robust and open multi-stakeholder process, support local officials, planners and stakeholders in climate action planning1. Such plans aim to help cities to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and adopt low emission development trajectories, as well as adapt to the impacts of climate change and build local climate resilience.

These Guiding Principles are intended to be applied flexibly, together with more detailed ‘how to’ manuals, to help cities more effectively play their role in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and building climate resilience.

This guidebook on integrating climate change into city development strategies (CDS) attempts to provide a modest input into the effort of unifying two key thematic areas, Climate Change and City Development Strategies. This attempt of climate proofing city development strategies is an ongoing process and requires additional effort by governments, academia, and city development partners worldwide.

The World Bank, the United Nations Human Settlement Programme (UN-Habitat) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) collaborated in a Joint Work Programme (JWP) to help cities address challenges related to climate change, aiming to facilitate a coordinated, focused effort targeting cities and climate change.

The JWP captured current knowledge, and supported local and national decision-makers incorporate climate change adaptation and mitigation into their urban planning policies and practices.

A number of deliverables have been produced during this collaboration, including: an online catalogue to facilitate access to knowledge on cities and climate change, various tools for incorporating climate change into urban policies and practices, analytic and assessment guides, handbook for mayors on climate change adaptation and mitigation in cities.y also be useful for professionals in the urban development field in cities where local governments lack specific personnel working on town planning.

UN-Habitat’s Cities and Climate Change Initiative promotes enhanced climate change mitigation and adaptation in developing country cities. This document is an initial output of the Cities and Climate Change Initiative activities in the Kathmandu Valley of Nepal. This abridged report is based on the report titled: “Kathmandu Valley, Nepal – Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment”. Starting with a brief background of the Kathmandu Valley, this report addresses the climate change situation from a comprehensive vulnerability perspective that focuses on exposure to climate change hazards, socio-economic sensitivities and the adaptive capacities of the city and its stakeholders. Based on this analysis the report identifies vulnerable people, places and sectors.

This document provides a contextual understanding of the challenges and opportunities of climate change in relation to human settlements in Small Island Developing States (SIDS). It is a collection of initial thoughts in response to the call of Small Island Developing States for “the strengthening of the long-standing cooperation and support provided by the international community” and “enabling strong, genuine and durable partnerships at the sub-national, national, sub-regional, regional and international levels” (UNGA 2014).

This publication explores the complex terrain of diverse women’s unrealized right to adequate housing and the consequent negative implications for urban sustainability. It underlines the often under-acknowledged relationship between diverse women and the home, and it identifies a number of key areas that impede diverse women from enjoying their right to adequate housing. It introduces theconceptual framework of an intersectional analysis as a gender and diversity-inclusive way to examine and assess housing policies and processes so that the right to adequate housing, protection from forced evictions and sustainable human settlements may one day become a reality for all women and men.

Climate change is already affecting millions of people worldwide. In urban areas, which are typically characterized by significantly higher population density, climate change will exacerbate and compound existing vulnerabilities, especially for the urban poor. Across Indonesia cities are facing two interlinked challenges, that of rapid population growth and the impacts of climate change.

Rapid urbanization offers the benefits of larger economies, increased human resources, and potentially more development opportunities, however, unplanned rapid growth can also strain public services and infrastructure, invite casualization of labour and unsafe informal sector employment, causes pollution and overwhelm ecosystems, and leads to traffic congestion.