Forums
The importance of creating platforms and mechanisms for a wide meaningful and inclusive participation in policy debates on sustainable urban development at all stages of the urban decision-making processes are reaffirmed in paragraphs 41 and 92 of the New Urban Agenda.
World Urban Forum
The World Urban Forum (WUF) is a non-legislative technical forum established in 2001 by the United Nations, and convened every second year, to address one of the most pressing issues facing the world today: rapid urbanization and its impact on communities, cities, economies, climate change and policies. Convened by UN-Habitat, the Forum is a high level, open and inclusive platform for addressing the challenges of sustainable urbanization.
Read more about the upcoming WUF11.
WUF10 in 2020 began with a call to action and concluded with the Abu Dhabi Declared Actions committed by different partners and stakeholders groups. Learn more about Declared Actions.
Regional Urban Forums
With the increasing importance of regional dimensions and contexts, national level urban forums have frequently been scaled-up to the regional and sub-regional levels in support of the New Urban Agenda. Involving multiple national and local governments as well as other national and regional stakeholders, these events have often been led and hosted by the UN Regional Commissions.
- Forum of Mayors 2022) hosted by UNECE
- Caribbean Urban Forum (2020)
- Forum of Mayors (2020) hosted by UNECE
- Pacific Urban Forum (5th Forum 2019) hosted by UNESCAP
- Asia-Pacific Urban Forum (7th Forum, 2019) hosted by UNESCAP
- Cities Conference (2018) hosted by UNECLAC
National Urban Forums
Since 2016, following the United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development (Habitat III), UN-Habitat has worked with partners at national, regional and local levels to raise awareness and strengthen commitment towards the implementation of the New Urban Agenda.
National Urban Forums provide a conducive space for inclusive national urban policies, strategies and action plan formulation and review. They are key to domesticate and localize global and regional Agendas and are critical and inclusive platforms to advance evidence-based policymaking and review.
The advocacy and awareness efforts of a National Urban Forum can be integrated by the set-up of a National Urban Campaign and other ad-hoc campaigns addressing specific themes and targeting specific audiences.
Countries that have hosted National Urban Forums
Between 2017 and 2020, over 25 countries organized National Urban Forums demonstrating their commitment towards sustainable urbanization. In 2021, some 20 National Urban Forums were organized.
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