World Urban Forum opens in Baku as housing crisis and climate shocks intensify
The conference, organized by UN-Habitat together with Azerbaijan, opens on Sunday 17 May and runs through Friday, 22 May. It will bring together world leaders, mayors, urban planning experts, as well as representatives of governments, the private sector, civil society and international organizations.An ambitious goal: housing the worldThe theme of the forum is a call to action: Housing the World: Safe and Resilient Cities and Communities. According to the UN, nearly 2.8 billion people today are living in inadequate housing conditions, while more than 300 million have no home at all. With close to 70 per cent of the global population expected to live in cities by 2050, the crisis is only set to intensify.In an interview with UN Video, the head of UN-Habitat, Anacláudia Rossbach, described the situation as a “global housing crisis”.“This crisis has long been most severe and structural in the Global South, but now it is also being felt in the Global North as well.”According to Ms. Rossbach, the rising cost of living has become a major issue, while international crises, including the war in the Middle East and the related risks to global supply chains, further aggravate the situation.
