The World Urban Forum opens in Baku, Azerbaijan, this Sunday, May 17, bringing together a massive coalition of world leaders, mayors, and urban planners to confront a global housing deficit that the United Nations describes as a systemic failure. Running through May 22, the conference—known as WUF13—comes at a moment when the intersection of economic instability, violent conflict, and accelerating climate shocks has pushed urban infrastructure to a breaking point.
With approximately 40,000 participants from 182 countries registered to attend, the forum is tasked with addressing a staggering reality: nearly 2.8 billion people currently live in inadequate housing, while more than 300 million remain entirely homeless. As the world moves toward a projection where nearly 70 per cent of the global population will reside in cities by 2050, officials warn that without a radical shift in urban governance, the crisis will only intensify.
Anacláudia Rossbach, the head of UN-Habitat, has characterized the current state of affairs as a “global housing crisis” that is no longer confined to developing nations. While the most severe structural deficits have historically plagued the Global South, Rossbach noted that the crisis is now being acutely felt in the Global North, driven by a rising cost of living and disrupted global supply chains linked to conflicts in the Middle East.
Redefining Housing as Human Dignity
A central pillar of the Baku discussions is the argument that housing is not merely a matter of construction, but a cornerstone of human dignity and global stability. The UN warns that the failure to provide secure shelter ripples through every other social system, straining healthcare and education while fraying the social fabric of burgeoning cities.
Francine Pickup, Deputy Director of the UN Development Programme (UNDP) and head of the UNDP delegation to WUF13, argues that the world must move past the “bricks and mortar” approach. According to Pickup, the housing crisis is not primarily a construction problem, but a complex urban setting issue that requires integrated solutions combining local financing, governance, and climate resilience.
To illustrate the scale of the challenge, the forum is highlighting several critical benchmarks regarding urban precariousness:
| Metric | Current Estimate / Projection | Impact Area |
|---|---|---|
| Inadequate Housing | 2.8 billion people | Global Urban Centers |
| Total Homelessness | 300 million+ people | Global |
| Slum Residents | 1.1 billion people | Informal Settlements |
| Children in Slums | 350 to 500 million | Public Health & Education |
| Urban Population (2050) | ~70% of global total | Infrastructure Pressure |
The Challenge of Informal Settlements
One of the most contentious and urgent themes in Baku is the management of informal settlements. Currently, around 1.1 billion people live in slums—unplanned areas where residents lack legal claims to land and live in precarious conditions. Projections suggest this number could rise by another two billion in the coming decades.
However, UN-Habitat is advocating for a paradigm shift. Rather than viewing these settlements solely as problems to be cleared or demolished, the agency is calling for an approach that recognizes them as the only viable way millions of people can secure a foothold in the city. The goal is to transition from “slum clearance” to “slum upgrading,” providing legal security and basic services without displacing vulnerable populations.
Rebuilding Lives Amidst Conflict
The forum arrives as global displacement reaches historic levels. By the end of 2022, more than 123 million people had been forcibly displaced worldwide, with over 60 per cent of those individuals seeking refuge in urban areas rather than traditional refugee camps.
For these populations, the loss of a home represents more than the loss of a roof; We see the rupture of community and the erasure of livelihoods. Discussions in Baku will focus on the reconstruction of cities affected by war and disaster, emphasizing that recovery must be inclusive and sustainable rather than merely fast. Rossbach emphasized that there is an “urgent need” to rebuild communities in ways that allow displaced persons to find a path back to normality through job creation and neighborhood restoration.
The Climate Paradox: Shelter vs. Emissions
Climate change is now a primary driver of the housing crisis, creating a dangerous feedback loop. In 2023 alone, extreme weather events—including wildfires, storms, and floods—displaced more than 20 million people. Some estimates suggest that by 2040, climate change could destroy as many as 167 million homes globally.
At the same time, the act of building more housing often exacerbates the incredibly problem it seeks to solve. The construction sector is currently responsible for 34 per cent of global energy-related CO2 emissions. This leaves urban planners with a tricky duality: the need to build rapidly to house billions, while drastically reducing the carbon footprint of those buildings.
The forum will examine how the choice of materials, the location of new developments, and the design of resilient infrastructure can mitigate these shocks without compromising the speed of delivery.
A Decade of the New Urban Agenda
Beyond the immediate housing crisis, the Baku forum marks the 10th anniversary of the New Urban Agenda, adopted in 2016. This framework was designed to guide the sustainable development of cities worldwide, but its implementation has been uneven.
The outcomes of the discussions in Baku are expected to feed directly into a midterm review of the Agenda, which the UN General Assembly will conduct in New York City this July. This review will serve as a political audit of how far the world has progressed in creating safe, affordable, and sustainable cities over the last decade.
The next critical checkpoint for these initiatives will be the UN General Assembly’s formal review in July, where the recommendations from Baku will be evaluated for global policy adoption. This review will determine the funding priorities and strategic shifts for urban development heading into the latter half of the decade.
We want to hear from you. How is the housing crisis affecting your city, and what solutions are actually working on the ground? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
