Shigeru Ban is a Japanese architect known for using sustainable materials like cardboard tubes. Through his nonprofit VAN, he designs low-cost shelters for disaster victims worldwide, showing how architecture can serve people, not just the wealthy.

Partners help shape the World Urban Forum, and applications for partner-led events at #WUF13 are now open. Open to organizations from all regions and backgrounds 🗓️ Deadline: 27 January 2026 👉 Learn more and apply: https://loom.ly/Kb6rUFk#WUF13 #RoadtoBaku #HousingTheWorld

Climate-resilient housing is built to withstand floods, heat, and storms—while staying affordable and inclusive. The key to scaling it? Community-led design, climate-smart planning, resilient materials, and policies that put people first.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres tells the Security Council he remains deeply concerned that international law has not been respected with regard to 3 January US military action in Venezuela. Read the full statement here: https://lnkd.in/gCy7Ww8m

🌍 What can a 1,200-year-old city teach us about climate action? Fez faces heat, water stress & fragile heritage — yet its solution lies in tradition. Courtyards, shaded streets & thick walls offer low-energy cooling. Sometimes ancient wisdom is the best way to act on climate.

Statement attributable to the Spokesperson for the UN Secretary-General on the situation in Venezuela. The Secretary-General is deeply alarmed by the situation, which has potential worrying implications for the region. https://loom.ly/B9nDulg

Safe, affordable homes improve physical and mental health, reduce stress, strengthen communities, and build resilience to shocks. When housing works, people thrive. That’s why investing in better housing means investing in wellbeing for everyone.

🌍 Lagos is on the frontline of climate risk—and opportunity. Flooding, heat, housing pressure, and congestion are real, but solutions are rolling out: 🚍 BRT cutting emissions, 🌊 better drainage, 🏘️ community upgrading, and 🌱 nature-based resilience. Image by Reterritorio

Climate resilience fails when it’s designed far from the people it’s meant to protect. The RISE UP in Action report shows cities are making progress — but real resilience only scales when communities lead, finance reaches neighbourhoods, and climate action tackles inequality head-on.

Partners help shape the World Urban Forum, and applications for partner-led events at #WUF13 are now open. Open to organizations from all regions and backgrounds 🗓️ Deadline: 27 January 2026 👉 Learn more and apply: https://loom.ly/Kb6rUFk#WUF13 #RoadtoBaku #HousingTheWorld

Cities run on care work - often unpaid, underpaid, and invisible. Mostly done by women, it shapes housing, mobility, and access to services. When cities aren’t designed for care, inequality grows. Care-centred planning creates fairer, more resilient cities for all.

Sustainable housing uses less energy, water, and materials—making homes healthier, more resilient, and cheaper to live in. When paired with good planning, local materials, and inclusive policies, sustainability lowers long-term costs and keeps housing affordable for all.

🎄 This Christmas, we celebrate hope built one home at a time. Around the world, communities are proving that safe, affordable, climate-resilient housing is possible. At UN-Habitat, we believe investing in homes means investing in people - and a better future for all.

Good housing is one of the strongest resilience tools we have. Safe, well-located, affordable homes reduce climate risk, protect lives, and strengthen communities. When housing fails, shocks hit harder. Resilient housing means resilient cities.

UN-Habitat looks ahead to 2026 and the World Urban Forum #WUF13 in Baku, under the theme "Housing the world: safe and resilient cities and communities." We welcome the decision by the President of #Azerbaijan to declare 2026 the Year of Urban Planning and Architecture.

Home building is still too often top-down, carbon-intensive, and disconnected from local realities - driving risk, exclusion, and emissions. However, community-driven upgrading delivers low-carbon, people-centred, climate-resilient homes without displacement 👌

As 2025 ends, we extend our sincere gratitude to our partners, communities and colleagues worldwide. Looking ahead to 2026, we remain dedicated to driving meaningful change in cities everywhere. Happy holidays from UN-Habitat — and thank you for being part of our journey.

UN-Habitat congratulates @DanJoergensen & @EU_Commission on the launch of the EU Affordable Housing Plan. We commend its inclusive process, which brought together 13,000+ inputs. We welcome the uptake of recommendations submitted with @UNHumanRights. ▶️ https://loom.ly/-XTRUeg

What if cities treated water as a resource, not a threat? The sponge landscape approach slows water across rooftops, streets and fields — creating cooler, greener, more resilient places. 🌧️ Image: Géoconfluences/Alexis Pernet

Nepal has approved national guidelines for building with bamboo - a big step toward sustainable, affordable housing. Locally sourced, fast-growing, and low-cost, bamboo could reshape how homes and small buildings are built across the country. Photo credit: Bamboo U

One week left to apply! We’re hiring experts to help shape sustainable, inclusive cities: 🏠 Adequate Housing Specialist: https://loom.ly/lHCpWy4 📊 Housing Economist: https://loom.ly/RFEKgwA 📜 Housing Policy Specialist: https://loom.ly/Wnmh-lM ➡️ Deadline: 25 December 2025

#I4C26 call for proposals is open! Join us in Nairobi 21–24 June 2026 to help shape & support the IPCC #SRCities report, #CHAMP, and SURGe. ▶️ Register and learn how to be part of the programme: https://events.unhabitat.org/#I4C26

A well-built home protects far beyond its walls. It keeps families safer from floods and heat, improves health, supports inclusion, strengthens livelihoods and builds resilient communities @undrr.bsky.social @unep.org

New Delhi faces rising heat, floods and pressure on informal settlements. But with local innovation, low-carbon practices and people-centred planning, the city shows how climate action can include everyone. No one left behind. @c40cities.bsky.social

Inviting nature back into our cities means treating it as essential infrastructure. Wetlands that manage floods, trees that cool streets, green corridors that restore ecosystems. Nature is the backbone of resilient urban life. @unbiodiversity.bsky.social

Informal settlement upgrading works best when it’s community-led, climate-smart and rooted in secure tenure and basic services. How do you tailor solutions so that every neighborhood can become safer, healthier and more resilient? @undp.org

Nothing is more essential than a home. Yet 3B people lack adequate housing, 1.1B live in slums, and 300M+ face homelessness. Adequate housing is a human right—an everyday essential. Let’s work together to make it a reality for all. #HumanRightsDay #HousingForAll

We’re hiring experts help shape sustainable, inclusive cities: 🏠 Adequate Housing Specialist https://loom.ly/lHCpWy4 📊 Housing Economist –https://loom.ly/RFEKgwA 📜 Housing Policy Specialist https://loom.ly/Wnmh-lM ➡️ Application deadline: 25 December 2025

UN-Habitat Anacláudia Rossbach concluded a strategic mission to Senegal, advancing inclusive, resilient cities. Meetings with leaders focused on urban planning, affordable housing, Vision Senegal 2050, youth-led transformation, and launching the SDG Localisation Platform.

UN-Habitat and Italy launched Senegal’s Partnership Platform for SDG Localisation, advancing multi-level governance and data-driven planning. The initiative will support national frameworks and AO-VLRs in Pikine, Saint-Louis and Ziguinchor, aligned with Vision Senegal 2050.

Today, we honour the incredible contribution of volunteers around the world — and especially the more than 70 UN Volunteers serving with UN-Habitat today. ✨ To every volunteer: thank you for your time, your skills, your energy, and your commitment. #IVD2025 #EveryContributionMatters

3 December is #DisabilityDay! Our world will only move forward with the full inclusion, participation and leadership of #PersonswithDisabilities. As we build upon progress from #SocialSummit2025, we recognize disability inclusion as a driver of change. https://loom.ly/2ORct-4

Today, members of the press were briefed on #WUF13. The Forum, themed “Housing the world: Safe & resilient cities,” taking place at the midpoint of the New Urban Agenda, will play a pivotal role in shaping global urban discussions. Learn more: https://loom.ly/K6IAXt4

Today marks the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women and the start of 16 Days of Activism. As cities go digital, risks of online harm. Inclusive cities require digital systems that uphold equality. https://loom.ly/KNKj_tE #16Days #NoExcuse

UN-Habitat & Azerbaijan’s State Committee will host a media briefing on 25 Nov at UNON, Nairobi on preparations for WUF13. To attend, please register for the third session of the Executive Board 2025. Create a profile and select Media under partner type. https://loom.ly/MLiI2Qg

Brazil’s Urban Circuit 2025 set new records: 21,000+ participants, 360 events, and 22,000+ online viewers. Focused on climate action, housing, inequality & smart cities, this year’s edition showed how local leadership is driving sustainable development. https://loom.ly/aQSbxp4

UN-Habitat & Azerbaijan’s State Committee will host a media briefing on 25 Nov at UNON, Nairobi on preparations for WUF13. To attend, please register for the third session of the Executive Board 2025. Create a profile and select Media under partner type. https://loom.ly/MLiI2Qg

#WorldChildrensDay is a global day of action for children, marking the adoption of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Around the world, children speak up about their lives, hopes, and rights. Today we echo UNICEF's call to amplify their voices. https://loom.ly/VVpbniY

As #COP30 negotiations heat up in Belém, UN-Habitat highlights a clear signal: urbanization is now a decisive arena for climate action. Brazil’s Minister of Cities Jader Barbalho Filho urges aligning urban development & climate goals to deliver the Paris Agreement. 🔗 https://loom.ly/BkrpbZ0

3.4 billion people still live without access to a safe toilet. As we mark #WorldToiletDay, we echo UN-Water’s call to invest in future-ready sanitation—accessible to all, climate-resilient, backed by strong systems and sustained investment. Learn more: www.worldtoiletday.org

Week 2 of #COP30 begins with renewed energy. UN-Habitat engaged in discussions on how to bring multilevel governance to the forefront and show best practices of how NDCs 3.0 reflect the role of cities & communities. Read the full report: https://loom.ly/1TT0FYM

UN-Habitat’s latest report, launched at #COP30, captures a major shift⤵️ Countries are treating urban action as essential to delivering their climate goals. Read the full report: https://loom.ly/1TT0FYM

Week 1 at #COP30 ends with one message ringing loud and clear: there’s no climate action without urban action. Week 2 starts now: with more action ahead on resilience, services, finance, and the road to #WUF13. More information is on our website: unhabitat.org/COP30

In Yemen’s Tuban Delta, UN-Habitat and national partners are restoring water and irrigation systems, strengthening institutions, and helping 1.25M people build resilience to floods, droughts, and the growing impacts of climate change. Learn more: https://loom.ly/YcyYJ4A

Leaders at #COP30 just endorsed a new Declaration putting cities at the heart of climate delivery. Watch Anacláudia Rossbach’s reflections from the day ⤵️

#COP30 Ministerial Meeting on Urbanization and Climate Change concluded with a call to place cities at the centre of climate action. UN-Habitat launched a new study, Urban Content in NDC 3.0, showing that countries are embedding twice as much urban content in climate plans. https://loom.ly/07GgYdo#COP30

Today is the most important day for cities at #COP30. 📍 Join us in Belém or tune in to the Press Conference tonight where all the outcomes of the day will be summarized [19:00 BRT] 🔗 https://loom.ly/FXEAIHM#COP30

Five cities – Algiers, Al Madinah, Bogotá, Espoo, and Incheon – were honoured with the 2025 Shanghai Award for leading the way in sustainable urban development. UN-Habitat also launched the Shanghai Manual 2025 at World Cities Day in Bogotá. 🏙️ Read more: https://loom.ly/OLAMihA

You can’t solve what you don’t see. Cities are mapping invisible risks — floods, heat, biodiversity loss — and transforming knowledge into climate action. Swipe to see how UN-Habitat supports cities through #RISEUP. 👇

Cities cannot be an afterthought in climate action. 1billion people in informal settlements face climate risks while cities get less than 10% of finance. #COP30 is the city’s COP. We need to drive action, multilevel cooperation & climate solutions. Listen to our Executive Director 👇