The thirteenth session of the World Urban Forum (WUF13) takes place in Baku, Azerbaijan, from 17 to 22 May 2026. The theme of WUF13 is: Housing the world: Safe and resilient cities and communities.
There's no model for an "Arab city", and that's the point. With so much diversity comes a range of approaches to resilience. In a region under a magnifying lens, at an intersection between risk and opportunity, stories of resilience emerge. There is no single model of an "Arab city." From sprawling metropolises like Cairo and Casablanca to compact cities like Muscat or Ramallah, urban centres across the Arab region vary widely in terms of size, geography, economic resources, institutional capacity, and infrastructure. Some are grappling with rapid population growth and informal expansion; others with spatial fragmentation, shrinking services, or the lingering effects of conflict and displacement. Yet despite these differences, one thing unites them: Arab cities are all exposed, albeit in different ways, to an evolving array of risks. These include climate shocks such as flooding, heatwaves, drought, sea-level rise, and sandstorms, as well as socio-economic challenges like youth unemployment, infrastructure deficits, and housing precarity. As such, cities have a key role to play in managing risk, and an even greater opportunity to lead transformation. Arab cities are engines of economic development and social mobility. An opportunity lies in leveraging this support to build an enabling environment that fosters risk-informed, inclusive, and future-ready urban resilience. This event will bring together city leaders, national policymakers, urban practitioners, and development partners to spotlight applied solutions, lessons learned, and opportunities for the future of urban resilience in the Arab region. Through grounded experiences and tangible tools, the session will showcase how inclusive planning approaches are already delivering results on the ground. Highlighted case studies will include: • Amman (Jordan): Deployment of the CityRAP tool and community-led resilience planning • Damietta (Egypt): Coastal resilience and housing integration • Marrakesh (Morocco): Innovative planning and financing for sustainable urban development, towards a green journey • Eastern Ghouta (Syria): strengthening community resilience in Eastern Ghouta by tackling water scarcity through integrated natural resource management and urgent climate adaptation. The session will draw from the Urban Resilience Knowledge Series and practical implementation experiences across the region, exploring what works, what's replicable, and what's next. Facilitator: Ronald Jackson Partners: UNDP - United Nations Development Programme (Jordan) UNHABITAT (Egypt) Panelists: Mr. Jihad Farah, Strategic Planning and Governance Expert, United Nations Development Programme UNDP (Saudi Arabia) Ms. Felicity Cain, Deputy country director, UN-Habitat (Syrian Arab Republic) Mr. Ahmed Rezk, Country Director, UN-Habitat (Egypt) Ms. Lamya Sarhrouchni, Regional Inspector, Morocco Ministry of National Territorial Planning (Morocco) Mr. Mahmoud Fath-Allah, Director of the Department of Environmental and Meteorological Affairs, League of Arab States (Egypt) Mr. Fadi Hamdan, Independent resilience and systemic risk expert, Independent (Lebanon)
