In World Where 3 Billion People Lack Safe, Adequate Housing, General Assembly Adopts Political Declaration Recommitting Sustainable Urbanization Agenda

In World Where 3 Billion People Lack Safe, Adequate Housing, General Assembly Adopts Political Declaration Recommitting Sustainable Urbanization Agenda

In a high-level meeting to review implementation of the New Urban Agenda 10 years after its adoption, speakers in the General Assembly today both underscored the connection between urban policy and sustainable development and urged renewed action towards both given flagging global progress.

The New Urban Agenda was adopted in 2016 at the United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development in Quito, Ecuador, and endorsed by the Assembly in that same year. It contains a shared vision that properly planned and managed urbanization can serve as a powerful tool for sustainable development, and the Secretary-General is tasked with reporting on progress towards the implementation of the Agenda every four years. The report for this year - and today's high-level meeting - serves as the Agenda's mid-term review.

"Our future will be shaped mainly in cities," said Annalena Baerbock, President of the General Assembly at its eightieth session, as she opened the meeting. Noting that cities are now home to 58 per cent of humanity - and that this figure is projected to rise to 70 per cent by 2050 - she said that this urban shift can be a source of enormous opportunity. Urbanization can accelerate the achievement of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, but she cautioned that "the opposite is also true".

Investment, Implementation Key to Ensure Urbanized World Works for Everyone

"Progress has not kept pace with the pressures we face," she added, noting 3 billion people without access to safe, adequate and affordable housing, over 330 million homeless and over 1 billion living in informal settlements or slums. While the New Urban Agenda recognizes the shared responsibility to "ensure that an increasingly urbanized world works for everyone", she observed that "we have yet to match it with the investment and implementation it requires".

Yet, she added: "Today's mid-term review - and the Political Declaration before us - is an opportunity to change exactly that."

Describing this review as far more than an assessment of urban policy, Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed said that it is "one of the clearest ways sustainable development shows up in the lives of people on a daily basis". Global commitments, she emphasized, are ultimately experienced in local communities, and she declared: "The Sustainable Development Goals will be delivered at the local level, or they'll not be delivered at all."

"Cities need the power and the resources to deliver" solutions to the many challenges they continue to face, she stressed. Nevertheless, she concluded on an optimistic note, citing New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani's vision of "the day when the city they love will finally love them back". The New Urban Agenda, she urged, offers a clear pathway to make that vision a reality - city by city, community by community.

Well Planned Urbanization: Powerful Tool for Prosperity, Sustainability

And that Agenda, said Anacláudia Rossbach, Executive Director of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat), was born from the belief that "sustainable urbanization, if well planned and managed, can be one of humanity's greatest tools for advancing prosperity, equity and sustainability". However, renewed urgency is needed, as she warned that - while urbanization can be a powerful force for inclusion - "its benefits are still distributed too unevenly".

Highlighting the significance of today's meeting was Nga Kor Ming, Minister for Housing and Local Government of Malaysia, the first of four ministers to offer opening remarks. "We are not merely monitoring statistics," he stressed, "we are auditing the living conditions, the dignity and the future of millions of urban citizens." Stressing that urban challenges are far too vast for isolated actions, he urged that they be addressed collectively.

For example, while Malawi passed legislation to manage disaster risks in 2023, implementation of this and other policies has been constrained by climate-related challenges and limited financing, said Chimwemwe Chipungu, that country's Minister for Lands, Housing and Urban Development. States must focus their efforts over the next decade to implement the New Urban Agenda, and this includes providing technical assistance to countries in need.

"The success of the 2030 Agenda will largely depend on how we plan, govern and transform our cities," observed Anar Guliyev, Chairman of the State Committee on Urban Planning and Architecture of Azerbaijan. Recalling that his country hosted both the thirteenth World Urban Forum and the 2024 UN Climate Change Conference, he, too, spotlighted the nexus between global challenges and urban policy. "There can be no successful climate transition without successful urban transformation," he stated.

Mid-Term Review: Opportunity to Adapt to Present Realities

The mid-term review process, then, is a "distinct opportunity to contextualize the vision of the New Urban Agenda and to adapt it to the present reality", said Jan Szyszko, Secretary of State at Poland's Ministry of Development Funds and Regional Policy. In that context, the Political Declaration under consideration today emphasizes the need for a balanced and integrated approach across the social, economic and environmental dimensions of sustainable urban development.

"Moreover - and perhaps most critically - the Declaration acknowledges that, nowadays, the central challenge is not an absence of agreed vision of cities of the future, but persistent and widening implementation gaps in realizing that vision," he concluded.

Political Declaration Adopted Despite Opposition

The Assembly then took up the "Political Declaration to Renew Commitment and Accelerate the Implementation of the New Urban Agenda" (document A/80/L.89), at which time the representative of the United States said that the text has been "hijacked by language that undermines national sovereignty". He specifically rejected language concerning the use of unilateral economic measures. His counterpart from Israel, meanwhile, opposed a provision concerning countries and territories under foreign occupation.

Nevertheless, the Assembly adopted - to a round of applause - the Political Declaration by a recorded vote of 148 in favour to 2 against (Israel, United States), with no abstentions.

This did not mean, however, that other delegations did not have reservations about the text. The representatives of El Salvador and Paraguay also disassociated from language concerning unilateral economic measures, emphasizing that their countries will act in accordance with their domestic laws. Similarly, Iran's representative said that his country will interpret certain references to "gender" according to national legislation. The representatives of Japan, the United Kingdom and Ireland - who also spoke for the European Union - disassociated from language concerning "common but differentiated responsibilities" in the climate context.

Acceptable and Carefully Balanced Outcome

Meanwhile, the representative of Uruguay, speaking for the Group of 77 and China, voiced regret that the Political Declaration was put to a vote. Emphasizing the text's "acceptable and carefully balanced outcome", he welcomed its reaffirmation of the principle of "common but differentiated responsibility" contained in the 1992 Rio Declaration on Environment and Development. "Our attention must now turn to implementation," he urged.

Recalling the earthquakes that devastated the cities of Zagreb and Petrinja in 2020, Deputy Prime Minister of Croatia, Branko Bačić, said that his country is rebuilding safer, more resilient and more energy-efficient homes and infrastructure. Majid bin Abdullah Al-Hogail, Minister for Municipalities and Housing of Saudi Arabia, pointed to a vast increase in sustainable urban housing across his country, with over a quarter of Saudi families benefiting from the plan.

Algeria's Minister for Housing, Urban Planning and the City, Mohamed Tarek Belaribi, spotlighted the recognition of Algiers as Africa's first zero-slum capital. Noting the more than 61,000 families rehoused from precarious settlements, he emphasized: "This is the essence of the New Urban Agenda - the right to decent housing and cities that are fair to their inhabitants."

Botswana, meanwhile, aims to deliver 100,000 housing units over the next three years, said its Minister for Water and Human Settlement, Onnetse Ramogapia, adding that the Government views this as a catalyst for urban development. Outlining a challenge, however, was Moussa Bala Fofana, Minister for Urban Planning, Local Communities and Regional Development of Senegal, who cautioned that "urban growth, since it is so rapid, is putting strain on infrastructure, essential services, housing, mobility and public equipment" in his country.

Noting that Canada faces many of the same challenges as elsewhere around the world, Gregor Robertson, its Minister for Housing and Infrastructure, pointed to high levels of homelessness, lack of affordable housing and the devastating impacts of storms, floods and wildfires. On addressing the latter, he urged: "Build for the climate that we will be facing, not the one that we have enjoyed."

For its part, the Philippines - "one of the world's most disaster-prone countries" - regularly reviews risk-informed comprehensive land use plans, said Juanito Remulla, that country's Secretary for International Affairs and Local Government. These are then implemented to enable local governments to anticipate hazards, guide responsible development, protect vulnerable populations and safeguard critical infrastructure.

Similarly situated, Shakeel Mohamed, Minister for Housing and Land of Mauritius, underscored: "In a small island State, resilience is not a chapter in a policy paper - it is the difference between a village that stands and a village that disappears."

And, recalling that the New Urban Agenda was adopted in Quito 10 years ago, Sariha Moya, Minister of Economy and Finance of Ecuador, urged that the next decade be one of results. The Agenda's legacy, she stressed, "can be seen in implementation - dignity in the home, security in one's neighbourhood and reliable services".