With resolution 2/1, UN-Habitat was entrusted with developing the International Guidelines on People-centred Smart Cities. In line with the resolution's operational paragraphs, an extensive intergovernmental consultation process was conducted, ensuring that the guidelines reflect diverse perspectives, build on evidence and address the evolving challenges of digitalization in urban governance.

Member States have played a key role throughout this process, nominating experts in the domains of urban development, digitalization, data, housing and others relevant ones, that have attended the Global Expert Working Group as well as the regional consultations. These experts belong to diverse regions and specializations and they have contributed to the drafting by sharing good practices, lessons learned, and forward-looking solutions. Their engagement has been instrumental in balancing different national priorities, ensuring that the guidelines remain globally relevant, practical, and adaptable to varied urban contexts. In the same spirit, the Secretariat has sought to balance the different feedback received, with the aim of creating a framework that is supported by all Member States in shaping people-centred smart cities.

The draft guidelines have undergone feedback from Member States in February and March 2025 as well as during the informal consultations of the OECPR held in April and May. 
However, in the absence of an agreement to approve the proposed technical guidelines on people-centred smart cities during the resumed second session of UNHA, as was mandated by operative paragraph 3 of Assembly resolution 2/1, the Assembly took note of the presentation by the Executive Director of the draft. Some Member States have expressed interest in using the people-centred smart cities approach, with the principles outlined in the document, to guide the development of their smart city strategies, investments and other initiatives. UN-Habitat is currently collaborating with those Member States as well as with ESCWAP to implement those principles at both local and regional levels.
 

"The SADC Regional Strategy for transformation of slums and informal settlements has been aligned with SADC Secretariat priorities. During the WUF 12 in Cairo a SADC ministerial meeting  endorsed the progress of the Strategy. The SADC Secretariat is in charge of the political component of the development of the Strategy, and a Regional Adviosory Group has been constituted to work with UN-Habitat, as the technical lead. (OP3 and 4)

UN-Habitat country offices continue to implement a range of technical assistance and direct implementation projects for settlement upgrading and housing provision, particularly in humanitarian contexts. (OP5, 6 and 7)

Discussions with the Organization of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS, 79 Member States) continue for the design of a project largely aimed at the implementation of the resolution, including: advocacy and political mobilisation, capacity building and operationalization of the technical guidelines on multiple partnership approaches, and a competitive process for countries to apply for funds to support already ongoing initiatives in ACP countries from different thematic entry-points. (OP5, 6 and 7)

The Informality Taskforce of Cities Alliance has started consultations with its members on how to operationalize the 10 areas of action to deliver the resolution as a multi-stakeholder initiative. Priority countries were identified and the 4 Member States have expressed support and interest to be part of the ITF activities, including initial situation analysis, and formulation of  concept notes  for joint projects. (OP5, 6 and 7)

The outline of content of the ‘Technical Guidelines for a Multiple Partnership Approach’ has progressed. Through the December 2024 session of the Open-Ended Intergovernmental Working Group on Adequate Housing, informal settlements were identified as a key topic for upcoming inter-sessional meetings and future sessions. The content of the Guidelines will align with priorities outlined under resolution 2/7 on adequate housing for all and build on the upcoming informal inter-sessional meetings (to be held on June 27th, 2025 and provide inputs for the main session in October 2025). An agreement for joint resource mobilisation with IIED is still being considered. (OP8)

Engagement with UNICEF has led to the formulation of a joint project concept note to promote community resilience in informal settlements but with special focus on children (OP5, 6 and 7)

Through Informality Taskforce, ITF stakeholder engagement in Kenya developed an implementation Action Plan on climate resilience in flood-prone riverside settlements in Kenya in support of the State Department of Housing and Urban Development. (OP5, 6 and 7)

The Second Session of the Open-Ended Intergovernmental Working Group on Adequate Housing meeting held in October 22-23 in Nairobi deliberated recommendations on Housing informality, linked to the implementation of  Resolution 2/2. UN-Habitat organised ng an Expert Group Meeting in June and Intersessional Meeting in July to discuss the key issues on Housing informality and the consider policy recommendations. (OP8)"

UNGA Resolution A/78/122 approved the establishment of September 20 as World Cleanup Day (WCuD), inviting global action to combat plastic pollution and environmental degradation. Entrusted with facilitating its observance, UN-Habitat sent out a note verbale inviting Member States to express interest in hosting the 2025 and 2026 observances. For 2025, no member state expressed interest. (OP2 and OP8)

A low-key observance took place at the UN in Nairobi on 19 September focusing on textile waste and 120 clean-up events took place/were registered on the World Cleanup Day celebrations webpage. In addition, Let’s Do It World, a UN Habitat knowledge partner on clean-ups, organised a live transmission from Kyiv in Ukraine highlighting the theme “Strive for Five!” (call for 5% of the global population to participate in cleanups in September) and 24,7 million people were mobilised in 190 countries to participate. (OP2 and OP5)

In response to the note verbale inviting Member States to express interest to host the World Cleanup Day 2026, the city of Shaoxing (Shaoxing Municipal People’s Government) in China was selected to host the day and the organizers will be Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, UN-Habitat and Zhejiang Provincial People’s Government. A host country agreement is in the process of being signed. Preparations are ongoing and a concept note is being developed for the day, focusing on food waste. (OP2 and OP7)

UN-Habitat has accelerated the mainstreaming of biodiversity and ecosystem services into urban and territorial planning. A brochure on the agency’s urban biodiversity work was disseminated, events were organized at the 16th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity in Cali (October 2024) and at WUF12 (November 2024), and an information document on this resolution was submitted to the Parties to the CBD. (OP1)

In parallel, two reports were produced: one on best practices related to multi-scalar and supra-municipal planning for prevention-oriented development and another on the urban content of national and local biodiversity strategies and action plans. (OP2) 

Due to lack of funding for the establishment of an  expert advisory group, UN-Habitat is in discussions with relevant organizations about convening a group of experts who would already be attending the upcoming WUF13 in Azerbaijan and CBD COP17 in Armenia in 2026. (OP2). 

UN-Habitat has also explored opportunities for investment in and development of pilot projects and programmes through bilateral meetings with international financial institutions, their accredited implementing agencies, and relevant interested line ministries. Fundraising with two regional banks on an umbrella project with IUCN on renewing urban waterways in Asia began in late 2025. Through January 2026, bilaterals on the in-country deployment of the tool have been held with all Regional and most Subregional Offices under the aegis of IHAs. (OP4, 5) 

Pursuant to OP6, UN-Habitat is linking key elements of the New Urban Agenda, such as minimizing sprawl, to biodiversity protection. The agency co-organized a biodiversity webinar with the Environmental Management Group (EMG) and proposed the creation of an ‘issue management group’ on urbanization and land use change, which was approved by the EMG in September 2025 and which UN-Habitat will co-lead the other 51 member agencies in 2026. Concurrently, the Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean (CAF) is funding “BiodiverCities for the acceleration of the New Urban Agenda”, projects in Mesoamerican countries, building on the BiodiverCities network, a joint initiative of the World Economic Forum and the Humboldt Institute. 

The development of the “Hotspot Stoplight” toolkit for biodiverse and resilient cities is well underway, in partnership with the McHarg Center for Urbanism and Ecology . It uses open-source data, artificial intelligence and deep learning algorithms to project urban expansion and the risks of biodiversity loss and climate change to 2050. UN-Habitat presented the Stoplight at the 24th Understanding Risk Global Forum in Himeji, Japan (June 2024), and at a technical session of the World Bank in Washington DC, USA (January 2025). (OP7) For details, see document HSP/EB.2024/INF/16. 

UN-Habitat organized the fourth Innovate4Cities conference in 2024 convening nearly 2,000 stakeholders across academia and research, government, business, and civil society to present cutting-edge research and practices. Following the conference, UN-Habitat co-published an updated Global Research and Action Agenda on Cities and Climate Change Science (GRAA), identifying current research gaps to guide practice-oriented research and innovation.  The 2026 Innovate4Cities conference will be held in Nairobi (June 21-24), directly contributing to the IPCC Special Report on Climate Change and Cities.  (OP1, 6) 

At WUF12, COP29, held in Baku, and COP30, held in Belem, Brazil, UN-Habitat organized, co-organized or participated in over 80 climate change-related events including inter alia, on buildings, housing and climate resilient informal settlements, urban planning, water and sanitation, SDG localization, finance, urban health, loss and damage etc. Trainings on enhancing the urban content of the NDCs were also held. (OP1, 4)

The third Ministerial Meeting on Urbanization and Climate Change was held at COP29 and the fourth Ministerial Meeting was held at COP30, hosted by the respective presidencies and co-organized by UN-Habitat, advancing the dialogue on multilevel climate action, strengthened NDCs and NDC implementation (OP2, 8)

The operationalization of the Sustainable Urban Resilience for the Next Generation (SURGe) initiative received a significant boost, thanks to the funding committed by the government of the Slovak Republic. Resource mobilization continues, particularly for the Ministerial Meetings on Urbanization and Climate Change and the presence at COP pavilions, NDC3.0 enhancement and for SURGe regional hubs and country level NDC implementation. (OP3)

Through SURGe and NDC3.0 tool has been developed and an initial analysis of the NDCs 3.0 was launched at COP30. For WUF13 the launch of a comprehensive NDC report is planned. Sectoral analyses are under preparation (the first of which will focus on urban energy, and the energy transition) country and regional deepdives are planned for later in 2026.

The regional roll-out of SURGe has commenced in the African, Asia-Pacific and Latin America and Caribbean regions and a SURGe Hub has been established in Bratislava; an increasing number of Member States has been supported through the development of projects under the Adaptation Fund, the GCF readiness window and through other climate change funds (OP1, 4, 5), however to fully operationalize regional SURGe Hubs significant additional funding is needed. 

The Local2030 Coalition engaged over 1,500 local stakeholders in the global processes shaping global agendas (FFD4, WSSD2, and COP30), through wide consultations informing negotiations with whole-of-UN recommendations and local solutions. Within this process and in partnership with the Joint SDG Fund, it also channeled USD 24 million to local financing solutions in eight countries. The engagement process also led action-oriented strategic alliances such as the Seville Platform for Action on localizing finance, bringing together 10 Member States, and local actors from 20 countries. Progress was also made on evidence-based policy guidance on advancing the Six SDG Transitions through the Working Group 1 EGM.
Embedded in the Coalition, the Partnership Platform on Localizing the SDGs is advancing support to National SDG Localization Frameworks in Tunisia and Senegal. Nine more countries joined as partners during a high-level meeting hosted at HLPF by the Italian Mission in NYC.
Through SDG Cities, UN-Habitat supported the translation of 15 Voluntary Local Reviews (VLRs) into policies and action. The SDG Cities Global Community grew to 180 cities, facilitating 33 workshops and exchanges, culminating in the SDG Cities Global Conference hosted by Shanghai with over 500 in-person participants.
The Agency continued expanding support on SDG Localization by working through specific enablers, namely sports and action-oriented research, in multiple countries. UN-Habitat continues working with the OECD on the Global Stocktake on Localizing the SDGs, bringing new evidence and guidance on localization toward the 2027 SDG Summit.

Significant efforts were undertaken by the Co-Chairs and UN-Habitat to strengthen the visibility and implementation of the mandate of the Open-Ended Intergovernmental Expert Working Group on Adequate Housing for All (OEWG-H). A global call inviting Member States to nominate focal points was widely disseminated. By January 2026, 68 countries had nominated 189 experts, broadening intergovernmental engagement.

Thematic implementation progressed through two structured cycles of Expert Group Meetings and Intersessional Meetings. The June 2025 series addressed housing finance, tenure security, informal settlements and social housing. More than 180 experts contributed to technical framing, and over 640 participations were recorded in validation meetings, leading to consolidated background papers and draft recommendations. A second cycle (August–September 2025) advanced discussions on housing sustainability, definitions of homelessness and informal settlements, and the Housing Monitoring Framework, with 582 participations recorded.

The secretariat also advanced preparatory work on the Housing Knowledge Platform in line with resolution HSP/HA.2/Res.7.

The second OEWG-H session (22–23 October 2025) accredited 288 participants, with 48 countries attending plenary meetings in person. Member States welcomed the draft recommendations (HSP/OEWG-H.2025/2) and the Roadmap 2025–2029 (HSP/OEWG-H.2025/4), emphasized the importance of adequate resources, and elected Somalia and Azerbaijan as Co-Chairs. The next session is tentatively planned for 26–27 November 2026.

Pursuant to resolution 2/8, Our City Plans platform has expanded its tools, case studies and thematic content, including planning activities and tools focusing on climate action, participation, socio-spatial inclusion, sustainable urban mobility and urban finance. Discussions have started on integrating solid waste management in OCP.

 
Additionally, UN-Habitat finalized the draft of “Local Approaches to Financing Sustainable Urban Mobility in Low-Income Countries”, a publication addressing linkages between spatial planning, infrastructure (implementation, operation and maintenance) and local revenue.
The Capital Investment Planning Methodology Guidelines are under review and set to be applied beyond India, Indonesia, and Kyrgyzstan to Mozambique - with ongoing discussions with the World Bank on further co-developing the manual and guidelines. This methodology, linking spatial planning with regional and urban investments, was also provided as a training to national and local governments during WUF12.

The Atlas on Urban Regeneration, developed with the Sustainable Urban Regeneration Lab of Bocconi University, was launched at WUF12, featuring case studies on linkages between spatial planning and physical and social infrastructure. The Urban Regeneration Training package, covering spatial planning, socio-economic assessments, financing, and innovation, has been finalized. (OP1)
Decentralisation of Urban Labs with Regional and Country offices is ongoing, to support efforts in portfolio and capacity development, providing methodologies and tools for spatial planning, finance and economy and sustainable infrastructure planning (OP1,2). As part of this decentralisation effort and for a stronger liaison between operations on the field and normative development in HQ , Urban Lab has recently been moved to the Regional Programme Division in HQ. New detailed role of the Urban Lab in RPD-HQ is currently under discussion, but will probably focus on the following three areas: 1. support ROs and COs in early stages project and portfolio development, 2. provide technical assistance for projects in ROs and COs, 3. Support the connection between operations on the field and normative production in HQ.

Consultations with Member States have been conducted to advance the resolution's implementation, with a specific focus on developing countries. (OP1, 2)
On engagements with financing institutions, under the lead of the Executive Director, a collaboration framework is being elaborated, and several events have taken place, presenting UN-Habitat’s strategic plan, methodologies and tools linking spatial planning and finance of housing, infrastructure and services. 

Urban labs continue to provide technical assistance for integrated planning and infrastructure development, now in Mesoamerica, West Africa, Asia and Southern Africa (latter under negotiation). Additional portfolio has been acquired in Cuba, Costa Rica, Colombia, Brazil, Ghana, Kenya, Mozambique, Eswatini, Egypt, Jordan, Vietnam, Nepal, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, amongst others. (OP6)
. (OP1)

Decentralisation of Urban Labs with Regional and Country offices is ongoing, to support efforts in portfolio and capacity development, providing methodologies and tools for spatial planning, finance and economy and sustainable infrastructure planning (OP1,2). As part of this decentralisation effort and for a stronger liaison between operations on the field and normative development in HQ , Urban Lab has recently been moved to the Regional Programme Division in HQ. New detailed role of the Urban Lab in RPD-HQ is current discussion, but will probably focuse on thesse three areas: 1. support ROs and COs in early stages project and portfolio  development, 2. provide technical assistance for projects in ROs and COs, 3. Support  the connection between operations on the field and normative production in HQ.

Consultations with Member States have been conducted to advance the resolution's implementation, with a specific focus on developing countries. (OP1, 2)

On engagements with financing institutions, under the lead of the Executive Director, a collaboration framework is being elaborated, and several events have taken place, presenting UN-Habitat’s strategic plan, methodologies and tools linking spatial planning and finance of housing, infrastructure and services. 

Urban labs continue to provide technical assistance for integrated planning and infrastructure development, now in Mesoamerica, West Africa, Asia and Southern Africa (latter under negotiation). Additional portfolio has been acquired in Cuba, Costa Rica, Colombia, Brazil, Ghana, Kenya, Mozambique, Eswatini, Egypt, Jordan, Vietnam, Nepal, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, amongst others. (OP6)

Since UN-Habitat General Assembly in 2023, a co-creation process has been conducted in order to develop a comprehensive operational resilience framework in response to resolution 2/9. The first steps towards the framework were 4 initial concept notes on 1- Early warning and foresight 2- Urban risk reduction 3- Urban crisis response 4- Post-crisis recovery and reconstruction. The co-creation process began internally with UN-Habitat teams and its regional offices, and was opened to external partners at the World Urban Forum in Cairo, in November 2024. 

While progress has been made by UN-Habitat City Resilience Global Programme, the development of the human settlements resilience framework remains constrained by the lack of resources. The next steps need to be further projectized in view of potential voluntary contributions and will now be anchored in the new Urban Crisis Response and Humanitarian Affairs Section. The emergency response fund has to date not received any financial contributions. The focus remains on developing the modalities for surge capacity both internally and working with outside partners (ex. Geneva Technical Hub 2.0).

Through its resolution 2/10, the UN-Habitat Assembly seeks to improve the funding of underfunded resolutions by establishing the Urban Action Funding Window as a new funding mechanism, complemented by regular reporting on the implementation of resolutions. In 2023, the funding window was established within the financial system of UN-Habitat, and its terms of reference were endorsed by the Executive Board in its decision 2023/6. (OP3, 4)

In 2024, the contribution agreement template was revised to include the elective transfer of project balances to the Urban Action Funding Window, with explicit reference to resolution 2/10, decision 2023/6 of the Executive Board, and to the terms of reference for the Funding Window. Engagement with donors on such transfers will be supported through advocacy and communication. (OP5)

This present web page corresponds to the tracking system on the implementation of UN-Habitat's resolutions, as requested within the text of the resolution. This web page will be updated semi-annually. (OP1, 2)

Disclaimer: "The implementation of resolution 1/1, "United Nations Human Settlements Programme strategic plan for the period 2020-2023", following the requirements placed in the text of the resolution, is to be considered cost-neutral." 

Pursuant to resolution 1/1, the implementation period of the 2020–2023 strategic plan was extended to 2025. An independent midterm review of the strategic plan of UN-Habitat for the period 2020–2025 by the Office of Internal Oversight Services (HSP/EB.2024/4) has been completed. Progress on the implementation of the 2020-2025 strategic plan is detailed in HSP/EB.2024/17 and HSP/EB.2025/INF.9. 

The Safer Cities programme is currently navigating the sustainability and transition phase of its strategic life cycle. UN-Habitat has initiated a comprehensive global learning process to consolidate thirty years of evidence, lessons, and innovation. This will culminate in a 2026 flagship report, a definitive record of the programme’s impact. This evidence-based foundation will catalyse future inter-agency collaboration, regional initiatives and high-level advocacy, ensuring urban safety is a key driver of UN-Habitat’s Strategic Plan. (OP6)

To scale up these efforts and accelerate the implementation of Resolution 1/2, additional voluntary contributions are essential to amplify the impact of these strategic objectives; it is noted that no new resources were mobilised in 2025.

Disclaimer: "As Resolution 1/3 was to be implemented within available resources, the resources indicated below only include Regular Budget resources. Gaps in resource mobilization reflect  restrictions due to ongoing RB liquidity challenges."

In response to resolution 1/3, a comprehensive Capacity-Building Strategy was endorsed followed by an Implementation Plan for the year 2021. These have since guided agency-wide strengthening of capacity building as a cross-cutting function. (OP1)

UN-Habitat's New Urban Agenda Illustrated, a practical handbook translated into French, Spanish, Arabic, Portuguese and Chinese was digitalized in the form of online self-pace courses aiming at facilitating understanding, implementation and reporting on the NUA. In 2025, additional courses and a webinar learning series were launched.

The UN-Habitat Learn platform, created in 2021, supports innovation for learning through the digitalization of high-impact solutions pilot tested on the ground. The platform currently offers courses on 25 topics, and count more 17000 users. Eight languages are featured on the platform.
Partnership and Research with academic institutions and organizations of professionals continue towards understanding and mapping core capacity gaps.

Support to regional centers of excellence, training programmes and training needs assessments,  partnerships with networks of academics and professionals, as well as private-sector partners continue with a focus on low-income countries. (OP3)

Continuous guidance to strengthen capacity development as a cross-cutting organizational function is provided across the agency, including through sharing of expertise and practices, advisory services in tools and project development, digitalization and innovation.

Gender mainstreaming remains a priority at UN-Habitat, both through continuing day-to-day efforts to ensure that all of UN-Habitat’s work is gender-responsive as well as through specific outcomes in operational work. In line with these efforts, as part of the updates to the Project Review Committee, the Chief of the Human Rights and Social Inclusion Unit, who leads gender equality prioritization at UN-Habitat, now has a permanent seat on the Committee, ensuring the effective mainstreaming of women’s empowerment across UN-habitat’s normative and operational work (OP1). 

Internal best practices on gender equality continued to be highlighted through the UN-Habitat gender champions award, which also creates a networking and peer-to-peer learning opportunity, as well as the Human Rights and Social Inclusion Community of Practice and the Expert Group Meeting series on Human Rights Cities, including gender equal cities (OP1). 

As per UN-Habitat’s commitments under the UN System-wide Action Plan (UN-SWAP) on Gender Equality and Empowerment of Women and the Gender Equality Acceleration Plan, the UN Gender Marker on financial expenditure on gender equality and women’s empowerment was fully operationalized across UN-Habitat in 2025 (OP2). 

Partnerships, including with other United Nations entities and civil society organizations, continue to be strengthened, in particular in the context of the preparation of the 13th World Urban Forum (WUF13). Stakeholder engagement meetings have been held since December 2025 in order to ensure that their experience and knowledge is reflected throughout WUF13. UN-Habitat is in the process of renewing its memorandum of understanding with UN Women (OP3).

An updated policy and plan for gender equality and the empowerment of women in urban development and human settlements, as a complement to the strategic plan for the same period, is currently at drafting stage and expected to be finalized during Q2 2026 (OP5). 

In order to scale-up efforts and boost the implementation of resolution 1/ 4, additional funding would serve as essential support to amplify the impacts of the above operational paragraphs. No new resources were mobilised in 2025.

UN-Habitat has made progress in implementing resolution 1/5, through normative work, capacity building, advocacy, technical assistance and partnerships. 

Over 70 case studies from 65 countries have been published across four compendiums (fifth compendium comprising 11 casestudies under finalisation), in addition diverse knowledge products including nine newsletter editions disseminate knowledge globally. (OP1, 3, 4)

Through capacity development, over 560 stakeholders, including students, experts and government officials in Africa and Asia, have been trained on urban-rural linkages (URL). (OP3, 4)

Advocacy efforts include four International Forums on urban rural linkages co-organized with partners bringing together over 720 participants and contributions made on normative issues to global platforms such as G20, Committee for World Food Security (CFS), UN Food Systems Summit, United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) COPs. (OP3, 4)
 
UN-Habitat has supported 13 countries in integrating policy on urban rural linkages into national/sub-national strategies, engaging with partners from up to 25 countries. In 2025,  Jt SDG Fund programme with UN-Habitat/UNDP/UNCDF Jordan country office was prepared and funded with HQ support promoting urban-rural linkages in the olive sector . Similarly Egypt, Azerbeijan and Mozambique have prioritized urban-rural linkages as core driver in the implementation of the National Urban Policies within the Korea funded National Urban policy programme. Additional funding avenues are being explored to respond to more support requests. (OP4, 5)

Partnerships with UN agencies, international and local organizations and diverse academic institutions have strengthened collaboration, resulting in the establishment of the Center for Urban-Rural Linkages in Africa at University of Nairobi, Kenya. Training programme for urban and rural regeneration at Shanghai University is under conceptualization (OP1, 3, 4, 5)