Nearly 25,000 people have registered as participants for the Seventh Session of the World Urban Forum that will take place in Medellin, Colombia in early April.

As online registration this week, UN-Habitat and the WUF7 Secretariat confirmed that a record number of people have signed up to attend the world’s premier conference on cities and urban development.

The number of countries represented is also higher than ever at this point in time with participants from 164 countries registering their interest in attending.  The programme includes an anticipated 500 partner events, including as Networking and Training Events, and 110 confirmed stands in the Exhibition. The Exhibition is traditionally one of the most energetic and stimulating areas of the Forum; it is open to the public and does not require registration. Other publicly accessible events at WUF7 include the City Changer and One UN Room, the Urban Library and Cinema Room, the Agora Room, and the Colombian Pavilion.

For those who missed the registration deadline or are not able to traveltoMedellín, WUF7’s digital media campaign will focus on providing opportunities for involvement on handheld devices via the internet. The WUF TV page on the website will live stream selected dialogues and events for viewers to watch from anywhere in the world. Additionally, the WUF7 E-Debates, in partnership with the Ford Foundation and urb.im, are currently open, and inviting the public to contribute their perspectives. The conclusions from these online debates will be incorporated into the Final Concept Paper.

Finally, you can follow the discussions on Twitter with #WUF7 and #urbanequity, and @worldurbanforum