Through this international benchmarking case study on planning laws in five countries (Morocco, Netherlands, South Africa, Republic of Korea and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland), UN-Habitat has assessed the impact of these urban laws on sustainable urban development to provide a spectrum of regulatory models and schemes for the spatial planning legal reform in the Sultanate of Oman. These case studies reveal that planning legal framework should clearly define planning…

Based on the Douala Spatial Profile, the Visioning, Scenario and Action Plan report is a unifying response to address identified challenges and to foresee an inclusive and sustainable environment in Douala 4. This report, built with the full engagement of all stakeholders of the city, supports the urban planning decision-making process by drawing a roadmap and listing priority investments.

The Kakuma Regeneration Strategy promotes economic growth, sustainability, self-reliance, and integration of hosts and refugees in the new Kakuma Municipality in Kenya. It offers a path to overcoming economic, environmental, and socio-cultural challenges through physical revitalisation, improved governance, and a transition away from traditional models of hosting refugees in camps.

UN-Habitat and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) have developed this Guidance on Child-Responsive Urban Policies, Laws and Standards to support governments at all levels to create urban spaces where children can access basic services, clean air and water; where children feel safe to play, learn and grow, which includes ensuring their voices are heard and their needs are integrated into public policies and decision-making processes. The guidance highlights the important role that…

This is the third edition of UN-Habitat’s Policy, Legislation and Governance Section Annual Report. The report demonstrates the Section’s position within UN-Habitat’s strategic context, and also links this area of work to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the New Urban Agenda. The report provides insights into our initiatives and collaborative efforts with all our partners, and presents progress made and results achieved in 2022. It presents these achievements along four focus areas…

This study identifies formal and nonformal land professionals’ categories, their current functions and the additional roles that they would need to take up to improve land governance and establish functioning and fit-for-purpose land administration systems in the Arab region. The study highlights the common challenges faced by land professionals and takes stock of their current capacities, the additional capacities they would need, and the interventions that would enable them to adequately play…

More than 1.8 billion people worldwide lack adequate housing and the number of people living in informal settlements has passed a billion. Housing is a fundamental human right and UN-Habitat recognizes its catalyst role in the sustainable development agenda. ‘Housing at the centre’, a global approach set out by UN-Habitat in 2015, puts people and human rights at the foreground of sustainable urban development policies to leave no one and no place behind. A more coherent and comprehensive…

UN-Habitat provides technical assistance and advisory services to member states in legal reform processes to bring about social and economic transformation and enhance effective service delivery for sustainable urban development. Benchmarking case studies and comparative analysis are key aspects of the UN-Habitat methodology for legal and governance reform. UN-Habitat and the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies at the University of London, UK developed this comparative analysis of housing laws…