WUF11, the biannual leading conference on sustainable urbanization convened by UN-Habitat, urged all stakeholders to double their efforts to tackle challenges presented to cities by COVID-19, climate emergency, and conflict. Over 17000 participants from as many as 165+ countries attended the event in Katowice, Poland. The 12th edition of the WUF will take place in Cairo, Egypt in 2024
Two years of pandemics have shown that we need to redefine life in big urban centres, in many countries
Mateusz Morawiecki
Prime Minister, Poland
We urgently need innovative solutions for urban areas to respond to this triple C crisis of COVID, climate and conflict, which are having a devastating impact on cities, leaving people and places behind
Maimunah Mohd Sharif
Executive Director, UN-Habitat
“…Given the diverse needs of our cities, including combating climate change, I believe our cities require new thinking. There is a demand for out-of-the-box innovations and disruptive solutions to achieve low-carbon futures…”
Hardeep Singh Puri
Union Minister for Housing & Urban Affairs, GoI
The 11th edition of the World Urban Forum was inaugurated on June 27, 2022, at the International Congress Centre in Katowice, Poland. UN-Habitat convened the conference and co-organised with the
Polish government and Katowice’s municipal authorities.
This year’s WUF was special in a way because it was the first big international gathering since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Mateusz Morawiecki, Prime Minister of Poland; Maimunah Mohd Sharif, UN Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of UN-Habitat; Grzegorz Puda, Minister of Development Funds and Regional Policy, Poland; Małgorzata Jarosińska-Jedynak, Secretary of State, Ministry of Development Funds and Regional Policy, Poland; and Marcin Krupa, Mayor of Katowice among many others were present at the inaugural function. Mateusz Morawiecki in his welcome address stressed that we are living in times of transition. “Two years of pandemics have shown that we need to redefine life in big urban centres, in many countries,” he pointed out. He said that Warsaw, rebuilt after the war, is today a testimony to Poland’s dynamic development. In Katowice, development opportunities are being created that did not exist before, with respect for the natural environment and the aspirations of young people. “This is how we want to transform Polish cities,” the Prime Minister said.
Other dignitaries also underlined the need for cities to accelerate their efforts to achieve SDG-11 as only eight years are left to achieve the goal of making cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable. “While the current reality is undoubtedly very difficult, we must maintain our focus and double our efforts on sustainable development,” said Maimunah Mohd Sharif, Executive Director of UN-Habitat. She said that the theme of the Eleventh Session of the World Urban Forum (WUF11), Transforming Our Cities for a Better Urban Future, “could not be more fitting”.
Recognizing that the urban population is expected to rise further from 56 per cent in 2021 to 68 per cent in 2050, “We urgently need innovative solutions for urban areas to respond to this triple C crisis of COVID, climate and conflict, which are having a devastating impact on cities, leaving people and places behind,” she added.
Maimunah further said, “But a better future remains possible. We know how to get there. Governments and cities already have the roadmap – the Sustainable Development Goals, the New Urban Agenda, and the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. Now we need real action to implement these commitments, and cities must embody a new social contract – with universal basic income, health coverage and affordable housing.”
87 Member States, including 45 Ministers and senior government officials gathered with the Global Task Force on Local and Regional Governments, Habitat Professionals Forum, Grassroots Constituency, Regional Economic Commissions, International Chamber of Commerce, and the President of ECOSOC, in what was among the most inclusive, and well-attended sessions of the General Assembly in recent years. Specifically, Member States call for five areas of action:
- Housing, basic services, and urban planning
- Climate action and environmentally sustainability
- Urban prosperity, economic transformation, and financing
- Multi-level governance, decentralisation, and localisation
- Post-Conflict/disaster urban recovery.
Grzegorz Puda, Minister of Development Funds and Regional Policy of Poland, said: “The Polish government is proud that Poland and Katowice are hosting an event where the future of cities is being shaped. This is a region that has come a long way – from communist rule, which had little regard for human life, let alone its quality, to democratic governments working for the common good.”
In the wake of the recent Ukraine crisis and the migration of more than three million people from Ukraine, the agenda of the WUF was modified to reflect the conflict in neighbouring Ukraine and present feasible solutions to urban crisis recovery and response. The Polish government organised a special session on the post-crisis and post-disaster reconstruction of urban spaces and population return. Antonio Guterres, UN Secretary-General, addressing the ceremony in a recorded message, thanked Poland and its people for “your extraordinary solidarity with Ukrainian refugees in their hour of greatest need”. He also pointed out that cities could not tackle the current convergence of crises and continued urbanisation alone. “They need more coordinated support from all levels of government, stronger partnerships with the private sector and civil society,” he said. Małgorzata Jarosińska-Jedyna, Secretary of State at the Ministry of Development Funds and Regional Policy and Government Plenipotentiary for the preparation of the World Urban Forum in Katowice in 2022, said, “We must also remember all those who are facing a crisis at the moment in countries affected by war and disaster, such as Ukraine. In this context, we decided to include the topic of rebuilding cities after crises in the WUF11 programme.”
This was the first time that the WUF took place in Central and Eastern Europe. Katowice was selected as the city that has shown the world how it swiftly transformed itself from a coal mining industrial city to a city of technology, culture and events. Marcin Krupa, Mayor of Katowice, said: “Our city has undergone enormous changes in the last two decades. I believe that cities are the engines of change towards creating a better world – one that is safer, more sustainable and inclusive. WUF11 will provide fertile ground for fruitful discussions and serve as an inspiration for action.”
It was the first hybrid WUF in which more than 11000 people joined physically and over 6000 people joined the sessions online.
WUF had over 90 exhibitors at Urban Expo from 43 countries in which they not only presented their works but also organised several interactive sessions with partner organisations and visitors. WUF11 was a five-day event and it featured over 400 sessions under different categories in which around 700 speakers from government, civil society, communities, academia, and the private sector took part to discuss and devise innovative policies and solutions.
On the first day of the WUF-11, five Assemblies of UN-Habitat—Grassroots, Children and Youth, Local and Regional Governments, Women’s and Business were organised to enable relevant stakeholder groups to bring concerning issues to the table, and contribute to the Declared Actions.
The organisers have made sure that the WUF-11 was inclusive and accessible to all. In her inaugural speech, the Executive Director of UN-Habitat Maimunah Mohd Sharif mentioned that it was the first WUF that was accessible and inclusive. The organizers improved accessibility for the physically impaired. Almost every key session had full interpretation in international and Polish sign language.
INDIA@WUF-11
A delegation from India was also present at the WUF11 and participated in several sessions organised during the five-day event. The delegation presented the works of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs and several Indian cities. Sanjay Kumar, Additional Secretary, MoHUA, and Hitesh Vaidya, Director of National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA), Hitesh Kumar Makwana, Principal Secretary, Government of Tamil Nadu, and Anshul Mishra, Member Secretary, Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority were among dozens of delegates from India. The NIUA also exhibited the best practices under several missions and projects of the Government of India. It had set up a stall at the Urban Expo which was used for showcasing different projects executed by the institute.
Hardeep Singh Puri, Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs, Government of India, also sent his statement through a video message. Puri said in his message, “NIUA is showcasing the transformative story of Indian urban areas at the World Urban Forum in Katowice. As the leading think tank for urban development, NIUA has emerged a catalytic force in nudging urban India’s ecosystem towards sustainable and inclusive development. The holistic view of urban development that NIUA has adopted in its capacity-building, action research and advocacy measures reflects the urgency and complexity of urbanization in India. Not only has NIUA developed and disseminated best practices, but it has also conceptualized innovative solutions where rapid urbanization is viewed as an opportunity rather than as a challenge. Given the diverse needs of our cities, including combating climate change, I believe our cities require new thinking. There is a demand for out-of-the-box innovations and disruptive solutions to achieve low-carbon futures. NIUA of India has proven that it can provide an ecosystem for such solutions providing cutting-edge technical support, an actionable roadmap and outreach.”
Sanjay Kumar, Additional Secretary, MoHUA, briefed the audience about the housing scenario in India in Dialogue 3: Future Urban Economy and Finance. He said, “India launched Pradhanmantri Awas Yojna in 2015 to provide houses to the urban poor. Of course, it had a component to provide benefits to the middle-income group or those who lack access to sufficient resources to own a house in cities. Indian real estate market is about 120 billion USD and contributes about 7 per cent to the national GDP. In PMAY, over 12 million houses have been sanctioned which amounts to an investment of 105 Billion USD.”
“By 2022, over 6 million houses have been completed with an investment of 44 Billion USD. In the middle-income housing segment, 2.4 million houses have been completed in which the government spent around 6 billion USD. The economic and social impact of the scheme, 7.6 billion person days of employment and created 34 million jobs directly and indirectly. Out of these, over 9 million houses are registered in the name of women.” He also informed the participants about green construction technology being adopted in India, the Affordable Rental Housing Complex Scheme and the benefits of introducing RERA in India.
Hitesh Vaidya, NIUA Director stressed urgent action in cities saying, “Time has come that cities need to make serious choices between gardens and graveyards to address climate issues.”
A delegation from the All India Institute of Local Self-Government was also present at the World Urban Forum in Poland. Ravi Ranjan Guru, Deputy Director General, AIILSG said that it was an opportunity to learn from the stalwarts of urban and local government domain. The delegation members had detailed discussions with international organizations for collaborations with UCLG World, the European Union, the Polish Government and many others which could benefit cities in India in long term. He also announced that AIILSG would be organizing the Asian Cities Summit in February next year. It is to be noted that AIILSG has been organising South Asian Cities Summit for the last several years. Till today, a total of five SAC Summits have been organised. Seeing the overwhelming response from cities in the Asia Pacific, the institute has decided to rename the SAC Summit as Asian Cities Summit.
WUF11 ENDS WITH A CALL FOR URGENT URBAN ACTION
The five-day conference culminated with the announcement of Katowice Declared Actions—commitments from all stakeholders present to support sustainable urbanisation. Martha Delgado, President of the United Nations Habitat Assembly presented the declared actions. Participants coming from over 150 countries and from different fields of expertise declared their voluntary actions and commitments to take the sustainable development agenda forward for the next two years and beyond.
Still, city planners, mayors, governments, civil society and community groups can submit their proposals, commitments and ambitions until July 31 on the Urban Agenda Platform.
After officially closing WUF11, Maimunah Mohd Sharif, Executive Director of UN-Habitat, signed a new agreement for WUF12 with Cairo, Egypt, in 2024 along with General Mahmoud Sharawy, Egypt’s Minister of Local Development. Sharawy said, “What we have witnessed here was a rich experience with many inspiring topics,” he said. “I am extremely proud that Cairo is the first African city to stage the World Urban Forum since Nairobi staged the first event in 2002.”
Addressing the closing ceremony in the Spodek Arena, Maimunah Mohd Sharif, Executive Director of UN-Habitat, said: “The climate emergency, pandemics, the housing crisis, violence and conflict, all converge in cities. If we want to transform to a better urban future, we will have to increasingly deal with urban crises. We have no excuse not to be prepared.
“We don’t have much time to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal targets of 2030. We have only 7.5 years, 90 months or 2,742 days left to implement the New Urban Agenda to achieve the SDGs. So, what shall we do? The time to act is now.”
National Urban Policies: As of March 2021, 156 countries have developed national urban policies, with almost half (74) already in the implementation stage.
Waste Wise Cities. 200 cities are now part of the campaign towards sustainable integrated municipal waste management.
Public Space: Over 1.82 million people in 75 cities are enjoying safe access to more than 104 public spaces that have been designed and upgraded.
Key Katowice Declared Action points
- We are concerned by the lack of progress towards the SDGs and the Paris Agreement and call for urgent transformative action. We need to focus on pathways to transformative change and investigate examples of cities that have reached a tipping point and turned the corner by instituting innovative and progressive policies and planning regimes. Urban leaders must move from incrementalism and work to achieve fundamental shifts in urban environments, systems of governance and forms of habitation, in line with human rights treaties. COVID-19 has shown that substantial change is possible in the short term, but the challenge is in delivering long-term and sustainable change.
- We need to focus on increasingly imminent urban crises. The climate and biodiversity emergencies, pandemics, violence and conflicts, and other natural and man-made disasters, all converge in cities and surrounding territories. Being prepared for and overcoming these crises becomes a pre-condition to transform towards a better urban future
- We welcome the use of an Urban Crises Track during WUF 11 to galvanize the exchange of knowledge and practices between stakeholders in all countries dealing with or affected by conflict and disaster, including from countries newly affected by conflict and disaster, such as Ukraine.
- We, the participants of WUF 11, reconfirm that culture, as a core component of local identity including heritage, creativity and diversity, is an integral part of the solution to the challenges of urbanization, including urban crises, and to achieving the New Urban Agenda.
- We recognise that WUF 11 set a new standard of accessibility, and reconfirm that accessibility and universal design are an integral part of the solution to the challenges of urbanisation, including urban crisis, and constitute the agent of transformative action for a more equitable urban future.