The Critical Role of Nature-based Solutions for Enhancing Climate Resilience in Informal Areas: An Urban Supplement to the UNFCCC Technical Guidelines on National Adaptation Plans 2023
The Public Space Assessment, Design and Management Methodology 2023 The use of the public space methodology will enhance the sustainability, replicability and scaling-up of the achievements of UN-Habitat’s interventions under the HAYA Joint: Eliminating Violence Against Women in the West Bank and Gaza Strip funded by the government of Canada. The Public Space Assessment, Design and Management Methodology is a comprehensive guide for local governments and illustrates the process of developing safe and inclusive public spaces for all. The methodology covers city-wide and site-specific scales, with reference to the standards of the Public Space Programme, customized to the Palestinian context.

This document is developed under the HAYA JP funded by the Government of Canada.

تعتبر منهجية تقييم، وتصميم وإدارة الأماكن العامة دليلاً شاملاً للهيئات المحلية، يلخص عملية توفير أماكن عامة آمنة وشاملة في خطوات مبسطة وقابلة للتطبيق. تغطي المنهجية آليات تعزيز جودة الأماكن العامة على مستوى المدينة وعلى مستوى الموقع، بالرجوع إلى المعايير العالمية التي تم تطويرها في موئل الأمم المتحدة ضمن برنامج الفضاء العام العالمي، والتي تم تجربتها ومواءمتها لسياق البلديات المستهدفة في فلسطين.

تم تطوير هذا المستند من خلال برنامج حياة المشترك، وبتمويل من حكومة كندا.

UN-Habitat Iraq Newsletter – JUNE 2023 (English) 2023 UN-Habitat Iraq June 2023 Newsletter: Provides an update on UN-Habitat’s activities in Iraq as well as relevant policy and advocacy topics.
Building Climate Resilience in Mozambique - the case of Safer Schools 2023 This publication starts with a description of the country’s overall natural hazard exposure and then focuses on human settlements’ vulnerability in Mozambique (Chapter 1). In Chapter 2 it describes the first milestone of UN-Habitat’s activities - the establishment of the Living with Natural Hazards approach - and its implementation through pilot demonstration buildings. It also gives examples of the construction interventions and methodology adopted in the Participation, Awareness and Didactic Approach.

The narrative of Chapter 3 analyses the education sector. It gives an outline of its historical development and the geographic distribution of school infrastructure, as well as the vulnerabilities and risk profiles. This introduces the second milestone: the start of the preparatory activities, the implementation and the subsequent scaling-up from local demonstration pilots to the national scale. It further describes how the strategic and normative frameworks for resilient school construction in Mozambique have been influenced. The fourth chapter analyses how UN-Habitat’s work resulted in the Guidelines on School Safety and Resilient School Building Codes and how these helped consolidate partnership frameworks and the scaling-up of the Safer Schools Initiative under the leadership of Ministry of Education.

The fifth and final chapter presents the validation of the Safer Schools Initiative, showing how more robust school buildings have all withstood the impacts of the strong cyclones Idai and Kenneth in 2019. This feat made the Government fully confident that the Living with Natural Hazards approach works. The text concludes with a summary of findings, lessons learned and recommendations for further scaling up of the Safer Schools Initiative in Mozambique and a possible replication in other vulnerability contexts.
Integrating health in urban and territorial planning: A sourcebook for urban leaders, health and planning professionals 2023 This sourcebook identifies a comprehensive selection of existing resources and tools to support the incorporation of health into UTP, including advocacy frameworks, entry points and guidance, as well as tools and illustrative case studies. It does not provide prescriptions for specific scenarios – these should be determined by context, people and available resources.
Integrated Spatial Plan for Environmental and Socio Economic Resilience, Khorog, Tajikistan 2023 UN-Habitat has partnered with the Aga Khan Agency for Habitat (AKAH) and the government of Tajikistan, through the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN), to undertake the ‘Integrated Spatial Plan for Environmental and Socio-Economic Resilience’ in Khorog Tajikistan.
Land, Women Empowerment and Socioeconomic Development in the Arab Region 2023 In the Arab region, as in other parts of the world, there is a growing consensus that securing land tenure for women and men is an essential precondition to achieving socioeconomic and human development. However, the empirical evidence needed to understand the relationship between gender, land tenure, and inequalities is lacking.

The Arab Land Initiative, with the support of the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development of Germany, contributed to address this gap. The Union of Agricultural Work Committees (UAWC) of Palestine in partnership with UN-Habitat and the Global Land Tool Network, conducted the study “Land, Women Empowerment and Socioeconomic Development in the Arab Region: Evidence-based perspectives”.
Ukraine mission report 2023 This second mission of UN-Habitat was deployed to Ukraine to prepare for the upcoming launch of UN-Habitat’s activities in the country, in line with the requests from its Executive Board (March 2022) and a request from the government of Ukraine (July 2022). It allowed the team to address a number of issues that required clarification before the establishment of UN-Habitat in Ukraine.
Smart Cities Mission, India: Localizing Sustainable Development Goals 2023 In this report, the transformation of 100 cities across India as part of Smart Cities Mission (SCM) is examined through the lens of SDGs. The mission has reached the lives of more than 100 million urban dwellers in India. The 100 Smart Cities are representative of India’s urban geography. SCM offers a unique scale for SDG localization: the mission has undertaken over 7,800 projects across 100 cities since its inception in 2015 and directed an investment of over USD 22 billion. SDGs have remained an integral part of mission management and reporting since the early phase of SCM.
Shanghai Manual: A Guide for Sustainable Urban Development in the 21st Century - 2023 Annual Report 2023 The Shanghai Manual was established in 2011 following the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai and serves as a tool to support the efforts of mayors and urban practitioners in advancing sustainable urban development. The ideas and principles of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and New Urban Agenda have been integrated into the Manual, with a focus on challenges such as how to achieve inclusive and liveable cities, innovative and creative cities and sustainable and resilient cities.
Using exemplary urban best practices, the Shanghai Manual 2023 Annual Report provides practical solutions and policy suggestion to help cities navigate pressing urbanization challenges, demonstrating best practices across the core dimensions of economy, society, environment, culture, and governance. The Manual also highlights the importance of financing for sustainable urban development.
The Manual highlights the potential of cities in leveraging social capital and enhancing inclusive community development, stimulating productive and thriving economies via diversified financing and sustainable economic development, bolstering resilience to climate change and disasters and transition to green, ecological models. In addition, it highlights urban practices that promote a culture of innovation and urban heritage, and which drive cross-regional governance for multi-dimensional shared cities.
The Manual has been developed in partnership between UN-Habitat, the Bureau International des Expositions, and the Shanghai Municipal People’s Government with the support of the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development of the People’s Republic of China.