Photo: UN Habitat

Today, the United Nations Habitat Assembly begins its second session in Nairobi, Kenya.

The four-day session will be centered around sustainable urbanization and human settlements, with a focus on five core areas, including access to affordable housing, urban climate action, urban crises recovery, local finance, and the implementation of Sustainable Development Goals.

As the premier global decision-making body on housing and urbanization, the UN Habitat Assembly meets quadrennially. At the previous session, held in May of 2019, it passed resolutions supporting capacity building for implementing the New Urban Agenda as well as guidelines for safer cities.

The summit is expected to result in the adoption of a roadmap for supporting cities and towns and developing innovative solutions to pressing challenges like climate emergencies, pollution and limited access to services. Ultimately, the UN is expected to pass resolutions that promote digitalization, increased multilateral cooperation and policies for climate-resilient communities. Efforts at supporting more climate-resilient cities and towns as well as innovative recovery strategies will likely be to regions that experience high levels of climate-induced displacement like Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. Economically, the resolutions passed at the summit will be instrumental to the growth of developing economies by opening up pathways for sustainable development.