The Baku Name to Motion, formed by voices from 176 international locations, units out a shared path ahead, together with:
- Reframing housing as a system, linking properties with land, infrastructure, transport, companies and financial alternative moderately than treating building in isolation.
- Confronting interconnected pressures – from rising prices and land hypothesis to displacement, weak governance and local weather shocks – via built-in, people-centred options.
- Recognizing housing and local weather justice as inseparable, with probably the most susceptible communities going through the best publicity to floods, excessive warmth and environmental dangers.
- Scaling up climate-resilient housing, together with via nature-based options, retrofitting, upgrading casual settlements and strengthening catastrophe preparedness.
-
Turning commitments into motion, with stronger multilevel governance, expanded financing, higher knowledge and better help for domestically led, community-driven options.
‘No pathway’ with out cities and housing
“There isn’t any pathway to attaining the 2030 Agenda with out sustainable urbanization and ample housing.”
With these phrases, UN Deputy Secretary‑Basic Amina Mohammed addressed the closing ceremony of the 13th World City Discussion board (WUF13), bringing the week‑lengthy gathering, which opened on Sunday, 17 Could, to a detailed.
The duty now, she mentioned, is to form cities which can be inclusive, resilient and able to offering protected housing and alternative for all, whereas making certain that nobody is left behind.
File participation, world attain
The most important World City Discussion board on file, organized by UN‑Habitat along with the Authorities of Azerbaijan, introduced collectively greater than 57,000 contributors from 176 international locations, together with over 3,000 becoming a member of on-line.
Baku hosted 11 heads of State, 88 ministers and 130 mayors. Over the course of the week, 579 occasions have been held, whereas the Discussion board’s largest‑ever City Expo drew greater than 74,000 visits. Some 865 journalists lined the gathering.
‘House is the place dignity begins’
For Amina Mohammed, the housing disaster sits on the crossroads of almost each main world problem – from poverty and inequality to local weather change, battle and instability.
“Enough housing results in clear water and sanitation. Vitality to cook dinner a meal, or warmth and lightweight a room. It’s about affordability. Security. Safety of tenure,” she mentioned.
Cities, she added, are the “structure of priorities” – revealing what humanity chooses to construct, the way it builds, and for whom.
“House is the place dignity begins,” she harassed.
A take a look at for cooperation
The Deputy Secretary‑Basic additionally warned that the Discussion board was happening at a tough second for world cooperation.
“The values and rules of the UN Constitution are being undermined. Tensions are sharper and belief is disappearing. Division is gaining tempo,” she mentioned.
But, she insisted, cooperation stays the one technique to sort out challenges of this scale, pointing particularly to the position of native authorities.
“Native governments are those answering the telephone when the storm hits. They’re those delivering water, transport, housing, and respectable work.”
A decisive second for housing
UN‑Habitat Govt Director Anacláudia Rossbach mentioned the Discussion board had despatched a “highly effective and unified message” in regards to the urgency of motion.
“We’re at a decisive second for the way forward for housing. We will not afford the posh of inaction,” she mentioned.
Housing programs, she warned, are underneath pressure from inequality, actual property hypothesis, weak governance, fast urbanization, displacement and the local weather disaster.
“Housing markets are clearly failing to satisfy folks’s wants. Billions are being pushed into insufficient, unsafe and unaffordable residing situations.”
The Discussion board, she added, made clear that housing have to be seen not merely as a market good.
“Housing just isn’t a commodity alone. Housing is a human proper.”
Baku, Azerbaijan, will host the Thirteenth Session of the World City Discussion board (WUF13) from 17–22 Could 2026, organized by UN-Habitat and the Authorities of Azerbaijan.
From commitments to supply
Throughout the Discussion board, there was broad settlement that political commitments have to be matched by sensible options.
In an interview with UN Information, Francine Pickup, head of the UN Growth Programme (UNDP) delegation to WUF13, highlighted entry to financing as a central problem, notably for smaller and secondary cities.
“I believe financing can be a important part,” she mentioned, pointing to a mission in Punjab, Pakistan, the place public subsidies, concessional financing and personal funding have been mixed to broaden entry to housing for low‑ and center‑earnings households.
Governance, she added, is equally essential.
“Governments want capacities to plan, after which to execute.”
UNDP and the European Union, she famous, have labored with round 400 municipalities throughout Jap Partnership international locations to assist native authorities design citizen‑centred options and entice funding.
Stefan Priesner, UN Resident Coordinator in India, highlighted the size of city transformation underway there.
“India’s city transformation is likely one of the largest‑scale and most consequential growth journeys of our time,” he mentioned, noting UN help starting from inexpensive housing and local weather‑resilient building to move and knowledge‑pushed city planning.
“The United Nations system is proud to help this journey as one,” he added, pointing to the contributions of a number of UN businesses.
Chairman of the State Committee for City Planning and Structure of Azerbaijan Anar Guliyev, addressing the closing session of WUF13..
Baku passes the baton
For Azerbaijani officers, internet hosting the Discussion board marked a milestone.
Anar Guliyev, Chairman of the State Committee for City Planning and Structure, mentioned WUF13 can be remembered not just for its scale, however for its influence.
“WUF13 will go down in historical past not solely as the most important Discussion board, but additionally because the platform that introduced housing again to the middle of the worldwide political agenda,” he mentioned.
The subsequent session, WUF14, will happen in Mexico in 2028, with Member States invited to precise curiosity in internet hosting the Discussion board in 2030.
Time working quick
As contributors left Baku, the sense of urgency was unmistakable.
With the 2030 deadline for the Sustainable Growth Targets approaching, Ms. Mohammed warned that the tempo of change should speed up.
“The subsequent decade of the New City Agenda can not appear to be the final one,” she mentioned.
“We want extra ambition. Extra financing. Extra local weather motion and resilience. Extra political urgency.”
UN Information was in Baku overlaying the Summit all through the week. Discover our tales right here.
