Mexico, 31 October 2014 – Urban experts met in the Mexican cities of Zapopan and Monterrey during the "Planning Dense Cities in the 21st Century: Tools for Redevelopment" conferences held between 29 and 31 October 2014.

In Zapopan, the event addressed, among others, issues of regulation and development standards, the optimization of urban form, and economic and social benefits of agglomeration policies.

Organized by the municipality of the city and UN-Habitat in a current context of strong cooperation, the conference started with an expert meeting on densification in cities, which was attended by the mayor of Zapopan, Dr. Hector Robles Peiro, and Director of the Regional Office of UN-Habitat for Latin America and the Caribbean, Dr. Elkin Velasquez.

In Monterrey, UN-Habitat experts as well as other professionals, academics and decision makers of international stature from Mexico and ten other countries, met for three days on the campus of the Tecnológico de Monterrey. The purpose was to discuss mechanisms, strategies and policies for the densification of cities.

During these encounters, several issues related to densification such as regulations, standards, urban form as well as economic and social benefits were addressed, with the aim to elaborate specific proposals for guiding sound densification in Latin American cities.

The event lead to a final statement encompassing the main findings and specific proposals, intended for inclusion in UN-Habitat’s future global guidelines and policies.