IIED at WUF12

WUF events

Some of the events IIED and partners were involved in at WUF12 are as follows:

Tuesday, 5 November

Launch Better Cities II: Transforming informal settlements in a warming planet

Hosted by: IIED 
Partners: Slum Dwellers International (SDI), UN-Habitat

People living in informal settlements are often the first to suffer the consequences of both local and global crises and the last to recover, be it flooding after heaving rains, supply chain breakdowns during a pandemic or war, the loss of home and property due to sea level rises, or negative health outcomes due to extreme heat and insecure access to clean water and sanitation.

The second edition of IIED’s Better Cities series aims to strengthen and contribute to global commitments to accelerate real change for those who need it now.

Through reflections around what 'transformation’ means for settlements from four different perspectives (migration and displacement, housing justice, climate justice and resilience), it provides recommendations for governments, research, civil society and international donors.

(Un)homely city: navigating houseless in a pandemic

Film screening

Hosted by: Development Planning Unit, University College London
Partners: IIED

This film delivers two key messages in relation to contemporary urban challenges and the pursuit of inclusive urban futures, and the session included a question-and-answer sessiong.

Firstly, the film draws a critical distinction between 'houselessness' and 'homelessness,' concepts that are often conflated in urban planning, governance and developmental discourse. The film clarifies that 'home' is experienced in varied ways and not necessarily within a physical structure. Mainstream notions and practices of home often overlook that, particularly for urban poor communities, 'home' serves as a site of social, economic and cultural reproduction, extending beyond mere physical confinement.

The film recurrently juxtaposes mainstream ideas of home with lived experiences and alternative practices, highlighting that despite long-term residence in the city, these communities are often not recognised as urban citizens. Instead, they are labelled with pejorative terms such as beggars, vagrants or criminals, perpetuating stereotypes and eliciting negative, unkind policy and governance responses.

The second message addresses the nature of emergency responses during crises. The film underscores that for many urban poor communities, COVID-19 was not merely a health crisis but a crisis of loss – livelihoods, food, basic services, social relations and homes. This perspective calls for a more nuanced approach to emergency responses that accounts for the continuous and compounded nature of crises faced by urban poor communities.

Flagship 4 shaping solutions to forced displacement

Event

Hosted by: UN-Habitat
Partners: IIED, UNHCR, Alcalda de Santiago de Cali, Government of Mozambique, European Commission – DG INTPA

Migration is at the core of urbanisation, and while today cities are home to 54% of the world’s population, by 2050 this number is expected to rise to 66%. The total number of international migrants in 2020 was estimated at 280.6 million. A total of 82.4 million were forcibly displaced due to conflict and violence in several regions and countries. Additionally, climate change is driving displacement and increasing the vulnerability of those already forced to flee. 

While the movement of large populations poses a variety of challenges to towns and cities, migration and displacement can boost productivity, enhance local economic development and strengthen urban-rural economic and social linkages. Thus, given the mandate of the Flagship 4 programme 'Inclusive cities: enhancing the positive impacts of urban migration', this event focuses on pathways to establish scalable, sustainable and transformative solutions to forced displacement both internally displaced people and refugees, through their integration in inclusive territorial and urban development strategies.

The event explored new approaches to the challenges of forcibly displaced people and host communities and allow participants to share practices and lessons learned from a range of countries across different continents.

Time to walk the talk – forefronting local action towards urban equality

Event

Hosted by: The Bartlett Development Planning Unit, University College London
Partners: IIED, Asian Coalition for Housing Rights, Habitat International Coalition, Slum Dwellers International (SDI)

For decades, urban public policies around the world have held as purported key objectives reducing inequalities and guaranteeing inclusion. Despite this, important gaps persist, taking on, in places, a systemic character. Yet tackling such gaps is generally understood as critical for addressing the many overlapping crises facing our contemporary world, and for defining sustainable and equitable urban futures for all.

Acknowledging the need to accelerate the articulated implementation of the SDGs to advance urban and territorial equality, this networking event brings to the fore the critical role of Local and Regional Governments (LRGs) and organised civil society in this endeavour. 

The event drew on the UCLG (United Cities and Local Governments) GOLD (Global Observatory on Local Democracy and Decentralization) VI Report, ‘Pathways to urban and territorial equality: addressing inequalities through local transformation strategies’, to propose concrete areas for co-production between these key urban development actors. Such areas of collective action, we argue, are critical cogs in the current policy and political mobilisations towards the 2025 World Social Development Summit.

Network building to address future challenges for urban observatories

Event

Hosted by: University College London
Partners: IIED, UN-Habitat Global Urban Observatory Network GUO-Net, Urban Policy Observatory, University of Bristol, Al Baha Urban Observatory, Karachi Urban Lab KUL, National Observatory Egypt

The continued popularity and rate of establishment of new urban observatories is testament to their important role in understanding and addressing pressing social and environmental challenges. This networking session creates a space to share experiences and insights and build capacity in our collective ability to take local action for sustainable cities and communities, with a focus on ‘urban observatories’ as a common form of urban knowledge institution.

As well as the many representatives from existing and aspiring observatories present at WUF12, this event attracted those working in cities and national governments, academia and other institutions interested in learning more about the urban observatory model and its value in data-informed policy making and actions. It is convened by representatives of urban observatories that are part of the Global Urban Observatory Network (GUO-Net) coordinated by UN-Habitat and features contributions from the diverse voices from across GUO-Net.

Wednesday, 6 November

Building urban observatories for sustainable and resilient cities hosted by the Global Urban Observatory Network

Event

Hosted by: Gauteng City-Region Observatory
Partners: IIED

Participants learned about and engaged with urban observatories and multi-level governance techniques to build well-governed and sustainable towns and cities by:

• Outlining available institutional options for urban observatories (governance, financing models, structures etc)
• Delineating urban data science – data collection, analytics and visualisation
• Exploring case studies of two urban observatories from around the globe
• Outlining multi-level governance and integrated development planning approaches
• Outlining and exploring the South African District Development Model (DDM, focusing on the Sedibeng District Hub, and
• Translating data, research, policy and practice into sustainable development.

From the global to the local: how data can inform urban solutions to displacement

Event

Hosted by: Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre
Partners: IIED, Impact Initiatives, Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre

As internal displacement continues to grow, and more internally displaced people (IDPs) find themselves displaced to urban settings, municipal governments are increasingly facing challenges when it comes to understanding and responding to the needs of displaced populations and integrating this into their urban planning.

This event brought together experts from international humanitarian and development organisations and municipal authorities to discuss data and context analysis applications to support solutions in local, urban contexts, drawing on examples of good practices and lessons learned from around the world.

Status of global housing indicators and partner contributions to roll-out at the local level

Event

Hosted by: SDSN
Partners: IIED, Shelter Afrique Development Bank, Statistics Canada, Kenya National Bureau of Statistics, OHCR, Bahrain Statistics and Population Registry

During the second United Nations Habitat Assembly, held in June 2023 in Kenya, that adopted a historical resolution on 'Affordable housing for all', member states agreed to renew their call to prioritise adequate housing and view housing as a human right.

While monitoring of housing conditions is ongoing in many contexts and institutions, there is a lack of sufficient globally harmonised and comparable methods and data that allow us to join hands in global advocacy and action to tackle the ever-growing housing issues. This means that fulfilling Agenda 2063, achieving the vision of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, attaining the new urban agenda objectives, and realising the resolution on the right to adequate housing does not only require innovative approaches to statistical systems and their development but also requires establishing linkages and enhancing the capacity of local governments within a robust monitoring framework. 

NGOs can be empowered through the exchange of practices and innovations on housing indicators critical to building common perspectives, while leveraging multilateral capacities and resources for global impact. Further, beyond the coordination among governmental entities; governance structures and mechanisms facilitating the involvement of non-governmental actors such as community-based organisations and the private sector can also support the leveraging of existing data.

Scaling up affordable and sustainable housing supply. Planning-led solutions and leveraging existing housing stock

Event

Hosted by: Habitat for Humanity International 
Partners: IIED, Build Change, American Planning Association, Royal Town Planning Institute

Housing is not only a basic human need but also a pivotal determinant of health, economic and educational outcomes, and a source of stability and social capital. However, the current global landscape reveals a compounding crisis: billions of people continue to face various forms of housing inadequacy, insecurity and unaffordability, while the buildings and construction sectors are responsible for nearly 40% of CO2 emissions and 36% of global energy use.

How can we navigate the dual objectives of addressing the housing deficit while minimising the carbon footprint of the buildings sector and sprawling cities? This event delved into solutions that complement the predominant housing policies paradigm: boosting housing supply through good planning and partnerships; and enhancing the existing housing stock through repurposing, retrofitting and improving.

Thursday, 7 November

Hub for Housing Justice – strengthening alliances for just housing futures

Event

Hosted by: IIED 
Partners: Global Platform for the Right to the City, Lumanti Support Group for Shelter, Slum Dwellers International (SDI), United Cities and Local Governments, Habitat International Coalition

This event launched the Hub for Housing Justice, a collaborative initiative led by a group of civil society networks and research organisations that aims to advance housing justice by building upon and amplifying local, regional and international efforts.

The event brought together key partners and allies to discuss the housing justice agenda, aiming to co-construct key messages and identify opportunities to advance such agenda in different global and local processes.

The event was divided into three moments:

• Framing housing justice: four propositions
• Roundtable: How to realise a housing justice agenda?
• Discussion: Co-building key messages – the session will conclude with a discussion to co-develop key messages for the implementation of key resolutions adopted by the UN-Habitat Assembly and UN Habitat’s Strategic Plan.

Related reading: Towards housing justice | Building resilient homes in informal settlements

Spotlight on the 100 million-plus forcibly internally displaced people

Event

Hosted by: UN-Habitat
Partners: IIED, Office of the Special Advisor on Solutions to Internal Displacement, United Cities and Local Governments, United Nations, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees UNHCR, World Bank

As of 2023, 110 million were forcibly displaced due to conflict and violence in several regions and countries across the globe. Further, climate change is driving displacement and increasing the vulnerability of those already forced to flee. The movement of people internally displaced changes human settlements across territories and accelerates urbanisation.

The main challenges are to ensure local integration and social cohesion, including through inclusive access to housing, security of tenure, adequate infrastructure and basic services. This event touched upon the important linkages between solutions to internal displacement and inclusive urban planning and development.

Living heritage pathways towards community-driven post-disaster reconstruction

Event

Hosted by: ASF – Architecture Sans Frontières International
Partners: IIED, Hatay Deprem Dayanismasi, Architecture Sans Frontières UK, Lumanti Support Group for Shelter, Hunnarshala Foundation, 
Development Planning Unit University College London

This networking event explored the role of community-led post-disaster reconstruction in revitalising, preserving and transforming urban 'living heritage.' We will examine how 'living heritage' can effectively facilitate community mobilisation and promote collaborative urban development in post-disaster settings.

The concept of 'living heritage' encompasses both tangible and intangible elements, including places, people, practices, knowledge, artefacts, events and memories. It serves as a crucial link between post-disaster reconstruction and aspects such as livelihoods, social practices, planning, land rights, landscape restoration, local knowledge, craftsmanship, memory and a sense of belonging. Every urban resident and stakeholder has valuable insights to contribute to the conversation around living heritage. This theme was chosen as a common ground to explore innovative approaches and pathways towards community-led post-disaster reconstruction.