Inclusive planning and housing for a better world

As cities around the globe grapple with housing crises and growing inequalities, innovative urban planning and sustainable development strategies offer a path forward

Our world needs to overcome structural inequalities and social and physical infrastructure gaps in our cities and towns, especially in the Global South. To achieve transformational change, one key focus is urban planning and housing.

We are living through a global housing crisis compounded by various factors, including increased displacement of populations, conflicts, climate disasters and affordability gaps.

Today, 2.8 billion people suffer from some form of housing inadequacy, ranging from homelessness to substandard, unsafe or unaffordable homes.

There are 1.6 billion people, or 20% of the world’s population, living in inadequate housing – and this is not only a problem for the Global South, where access has been a structural issue. Families everywhere struggle to own or even rent a home. According to the European Federation of National Organisations Working with the Homeless, the average rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Amsterdam, Helsinki and Lisbon is higher than
the median income.

The Covid-19 pandemic reversed much of the limited progress made towards sustainable development. According to UN-Habitat’s 2022 World Cities Report, 163 million people fell from the lower middle class into poverty.

A focus on the most vulnerable

Natural disasters and conflicts force people to look for safe havens in urban areas. The number of persons affected by disasters rose from 1,198 per 100,000 between 2005 and 2015 to 2,113 between 2012 and 2022.

Solutions to these major global challenges can come from cities, which already represent 80% of global gross domestic product and are projected to accommodate almost 70% of the global population by 2050. We just need to plan, build and manage them better. We need integrated strategies that prepare urban spaces for significant population influxes. This includes working with and for the most vulnerable communities and designing housing strategies that maximise the use of the built environment and align with consumer preferences and demographic changes.

Most of the urbanisation process will occur in Africa and Asia. This is an opportunity to create economies of scale in urban agglomerations, expand consumer and tax bases, and increase the diverse labour supply, with more opportunities for women.

A critical task at hand is to boost local economic development through transforming informal settlements and integrating them into the urban fabric, especially considering the relevance of the informal economy in the Global South.

Innovative urban planning

We need to understand how urban expansion is happening, identify opportunities for vacant and underutilised space in cities and balance densification, and map housing needs and informal settlements. However, data collection is a challenge, so it is crucial to maximise the use of technology and build strong coalitions to improve the availability of data and information to cities globally.

Another critical front to be addressed is finance. We need to:

• Review our existing financial frameworks to be more fit for purpose in the context of the inequalities and informality that we live in;
• Strengthen regulations on capital flows; and
• Promote the intersection of financial flows and urban planning.

Simply, housing finance needs to ‘land’ in cities in ways that address urban poverty and overcome segregation and excessive urban sprawl, which affect the environment and endanger food security.

The New Urban Agenda – the global framework on sustainable urban development adopted in 2016 in Quito, Ecuador – lists many principles and recommendations, including recognising the social and ecological function of the land, imprinted in some planning mechanisms such as the Brazilian Special Zones of Social Interest or the inclusionary zoning models prevalent in the United States and in some European countries. Implementing these principles would help unlock land for affordable housing and improve informal settlements.

UN-Habitat, as the United Nations entity responsible for promoting socially and environmentally sustainable cities and human settlements, is committed to supporting countries, cities and communities to address urban challenges through a multifaceted approach that aligns with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the New Urban Agenda. One of the most inspiring aspects of our work has been seeing how access to adequate housing transforms lives. This impact ripples through generations, and it is this kind of transformation that drives our efforts.

G20 leaders can play a crucial role in supporting this transformational change. As they gather in Rio de Janeiro, there is an opportunity to spotlight Brazil’s innovative solutions.

With reducing inequality as a top priority, G20 leaders can endorse and promote financial and policy frameworks that align with the principles of the New Urban Agenda and the 2030 Agenda. They can advocate for increased investment in urban infrastructure that addresses the needs of marginalised populations, supports the integration of informal settlements, and improves access to affordable housing and basic services.

The G20 can further facilitate international cooperation and knowledge sharing to enhance data collection and transformational urban planning practices.

We need to work together. We need collaboration from all levels of government and all sectors of society – the public sector, businesses, academia, civil society, as well as local communities. Together, we can make change possible and transform our cities and communities.