GNV News, 24 May 2026

The thirteenth World Urban Forum (WUF13), held from 17 to 22 May 2026, ended in Baku, Azerbaijan, with the Baku Call to Action urging renewed commitment to the global housing crisis. An estimated 2.8 billion people live in inadequate housing worldwide. The document was released at the close of the forum, held under the theme “Housing the world: Safe and resilient cities and communities.”

The World Urban Forum (WUF) is convened by the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) every two years, and is described as the premier global conference on sustainable urbanization. WUF13 was co-organized with the Government of Azerbaijan and brought together more than 57,000 participants (including more than 3,000 people joining online) from 176 countries, making it the largest session in the event’s 24-year history. It hosted 579 events, including six high-level dialogues and more than 370 partner-led events. It featured 11 heads of state and government, nine high-level guests, 88 ministers, 76 deputy ministers and 130 mayors, alongside representatives of international organizations, financial institutions, academia, civil society and grassroots organizations. Women and girls accounted for 55 percent of participants, and 865 journalists covered the gathering.

The forum as a whole emphasized the scale of the housing crisis and barriers to adequate, affordable and resilient housing. According to the United Nations data for 2022, 24.8 percent of the global urban population lived in slums or informal settlements and more than 85 percent of all slum dwellers were concentrated in African and Asian regions.

WUF13 discussions addressed rising housing costs, informal settlements, displacement, rapid urbanization, weak governance, land pressure and climate-related risks. Participants also examined how housing is linked to basic human rights such as access to clean water, sanitation, transport, public services and economic opportunity.

Financing discussions focused on how smaller and secondary cities can expand affordable housing despite limited access to large-scale investment. Participants discussed public subsidies, concessional loans and private investment as ways to reduce housing costs for low- and middle-income families. Governance discussions focused on support for local authorities, including housing planning, land use, infrastructure coordination and investment approval. Climate resilience was discussed as part of housing policy rather than as a separate issue. Participants examined how cities can reduce emissions from buildings while protecting residents from heat, floods and storms.

The forum took place as governments approach the 2030 deadline for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including Goal 11 on making cities inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable and placed housing back at the center of the global urban agenda. The forum ended with an invitation to continue the process at WUF14 in Mexico City in 2028.

Learn more about the global land crisis- 1 in 4 Adults Worldwide May Lose Their Land

Learn more about the gaps in SDG targets- 88% of SDGs in the Asia-Pacific Region Expected to Remain Unachieved

A slum area in Kampala, Uganda. (Photo: Micheal Kaluba / Wikimedia Commons [CC BY-SA 4.0])