NAIROBI, Kenya – The United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) has officially announced that Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, will host the 13th session of the World Urban Forum (WUF13) from Wednesday, May 17, to Monday, May 22, 2026. The announcement, made in Nairobi, places a global spotlight on urban development at a time when Kenya is intensifying efforts to address its own significant housing deficit and manage rapid urban growth.

Convened by the Nairobi-headquartered UN-Habitat, the World Urban Forum is the world's premier conference on urban issues, established by the United Nations in 2001 to address the challenges of rapid urbanisation. Its location in Kenya's capital makes the forum's agenda intrinsically relevant to the nation's policy-making on housing and sustainable urban development. The first-ever WUF was held in Nairobi in 2002, cementing the city's central role in global urban discourse.

The Kenyan Stake: Housing and Urbanisation

The theme for WUF13, "Housing the world: Safe and resilient cities and communities," resonates deeply with Kenya's current national priorities. The Kenyan government is grappling with an urbanization rate of 4.3 percent annually, with projections indicating that more than half of the country's population will reside in urban areas by 2050. This rapid growth has strained existing infrastructure and led to the expansion of informal settlements, where an estimated 60% of Nairobi's population currently lives.

In response, President William Ruto's administration has championed the Affordable Housing Programme (AHP), which aims to deliver 200,000 housing units annually. However, the programme faces significant hurdles. According to a November 2025 report from the Affordable Housing Board, while the housing levy collected in the fiscal year ending June 2025 reached KSh 73.2 billion, only 1,795 housing units were completed and ready for occupation during that period. Data from mid-2025 showed that approximately 140,000 units had been completed since the program's inception, far short of the ambitious annual targets. WUF13 will therefore serve as a crucial venue for Kenyan policymakers, urban planners, and private sector stakeholders to engage with global best practices, innovative financing models, and sustainable building technologies that could help accelerate the AHP.

Global Context: A Deepening Crisis

The focus on housing in Baku comes amid a severe global crisis. According to UN-Habitat, nearly 3 billion people worldwide experience some form of housing inadequacy. This includes over 1.1 billion people living in slums and more than 300 million who are homeless. The World Bank has noted that by 2025, over 1.6 billion people could struggle to secure adequate housing. The crisis is particularly acute in the rapidly urbanizing regions of Africa and Asia, where housing development has failed to keep pace with population growth, exacerbating inequality and vulnerability to climate change.

The forum in Baku is expected to attract thousands of participants, including government officials, academics, business leaders, and civil society representatives, to share knowledge and foster collaboration. It operates as a non-legislative, open-ended think tank, designed to improve collective knowledge and promote cooperation for the implementation of the New Urban Agenda and Sustainable Development Goal 11, which aims to make cities inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable.

From Cairo to Baku: Building on Momentum

WUF13 will build on the outcomes of the 12th World Urban Forum, which was held in Cairo, Egypt, from November 4-8, 2024. The Cairo event, which drew over 24,000 participants from 182 countries, concluded with the adoption of the "Cairo Call to Action." This declaration emphasized the urgent need to address the global housing crisis, unlock financing for cities, and empower local governments to achieve sustainable development goals.

Anacláudia Rossbach, the Executive Director of UN-Habitat, stated during the WUF13 theme announcement in Nairobi on May 30, 2025, that the forum is one of the largest UN platforms for diverse parties to exchange ideas, form partnerships, and act on priorities for sustainable urban development. Anar Guliyev, Chairman of the State Committee on Urban Planning and Architecture of Azerbaijan, affirmed his government's commitment to making WUF13 a "major milestone for the global housing agenda." For Kenya, the road to Baku offers a vital opportunity to align its domestic housing and urban policies with a global agenda, seeking solutions that can be adapted to the unique challenges and opportunities within East Africa.