1. By 2050 approximately two thirds of the world’s population will be living in urban areas, bringing a distinct set of challenges and opportunities to the area of urban development.
2. The challenges of rapid urbanization include growing vulnerability to climate change, spatial inequalities, pressures of migration and conflict, and difficulties to promote inclusive prosperity and economic development.

Solutions:

To address the multifaceted challenges of urbanization and make the most of the ‘urban advantage’, UN-Habitat’s urban planning and design work creates spatial strategies and plans, alongside inclusive processes that consider human rights, gender, age and other identity categories, that enable urban managers and other stakeholders set a proactive framework for sustainable urbanization in both developed and developing country contexts. This is achieved by adopting:

1. An integrative approach to urban planning and employing a variety of people-centred tools and methodologies - such as participatory planning, frontier technology implementation, international collaboration and cross-sectoral partnerships and
2. Focusing urban planning efforts on key elements that can leverage the urban advantage for many - such as prioritizing public space within a framework of urban density, mixed land use and social mix, equitable access to land and tenure security and the integration of the formal and informal spaces and systems.

Through these approaches, UN-Habitat supports stakeholders to create safe, inclusive, and resilient cities.

In general, one of the key hindrances to good urban planning is the lack of adequate frameworks and legislation at the national or sub-national level. In particular, the mismatch between local needs and national urban planning frameworks is increasingly recognized in many countries.

Our cities must become spaces that facilitate social, economic, and environmental progress. For cities to develop in a sustainable and inclusive way, they must become more compact, absorbing population growth by increasing their density. Only through agglomeration will cities have the power to innovate, generate wealth, enhance quality of life, and accommodate more people in a sustainable manner (with a smaller environmental footprint through lower per capita resource use and lower per capita emissions than any other settlement pattern).

Orderly expansion requires that strong regulatory frameworks accompany the planning process. At the country level, a national urban policy need to be set up in order to provide an overarching coordinating framework that will deal with the most pressing issues related to rapid urban development.  As a key reference for legislative institutional reform in regards to urban matters, the national urban policy will also serve to orient sectoral ministries and urban service providers. In addition, the policy acts as an opportunity to promote consultation with urban stakeholders.

UN-Habitat supports governments at the city, regional, and national levels to improve policies, plans, and designs for more compact, socially inclusive, and better integrated and connected cities that foster sustainable urban development and are resilient to climate change.

UN-Habitat’s approach to urban planning and design emphasizes preventative, problem-focused planning, and encourages planning in phases, beginning with ensuring adequate access to basic urban services, especially water and sanitation, and linking planning with financial capacities. Combined with modern technology, better urban planning can solve many of the problems that cities are facing, and lead them to prosperity.