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.
How can cities be co-designed with young people to create truly livable urban futures? A home is the anchor for children and youth to navigate and influence the wider urban environment, yet this foundation is increasingly fragile. Today's housing crisis is intensified by climate shocks and rising inequalities, which disproportionately affects young people in informal settlements and urban displacement contexts. Despite these pressures, children and youth continue to lead climate action, generate local data, and innovate new forms of civic engagement, redefining what urban livability means. The Children and Youth Roundtable explores the intersection of children's and youth rights and urban planning. It expands the concept of "home" from simple shelter to a vision of urban livability co-designed with young people. The session reframes children and youth as essential partners and decision-makers in urban governance, rather than passive beneficiaries. Through structured intergenerational dialogue, the Roundtable will examine how adequate housing must be integrated with rights-based priorities, such as safe public spaces, digital inclusion, and livelihood opportunities, to create urban environments fit for young people. The session seeks commitments from global leaders to embed children and youth-led data and lived experiences into municipal policy and planning processes. These mechanisms are vital to ensuring urban investments tackle systemic inequalities for current and future generations. Aligned with WUF13's focus on housing and UN-Habitat's 2026-2029 Strategic Plan, the Roundtable asserts that housing cannot be addressed in isolation. Safe, resilient communities require an integrated approach linking housing with health, education, water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), safety, digital access, decent work, and meaningful participation. The Roundtable will inform the Baku Call to Action, ensuring that the lived realities of young people translate into concrete commitments for livable, inclusive, and equitable cities. Like all WUF13 stakeholder-led sessions, this roundtable is developed through a participatory process driven by children, youth and stakeholders advocating for their rights. Guiding questions How can we move from recommending to mandating liveability priorities defined by children and youth as core, non-negotiable components of municipal policies on adequate housing? What specific urban planning strategies and zoning reforms can move us toward a productive housing model that integrates affordable living and offers proximity to economic opportunities for young people and caregivers? What specific institutional changes are required to ensure that youth-generated data is recognized as a legitimate, primary input for municipal decision-making? Given the strain on public budgets, how can we structure multi-stakeholder partnerships to support the healthy transition from childhood to adulthood to provide sustained, intergenerational co-investment in youth infrastructure? Expected outcomes Policy recommendations that redefine housing within an integrated livability framework for young people, included in the Baku Call to Action Pathways for municipal and national systems to utilize data and community evidence generated by young people. Post-WUF13 mechanisms to track progress on children and youth priorities in the global urban agenda. Objectives Redefine the idea of "home" as a livable urban environment that reflects key elements of adequate housing, by embedding children's and youth's meaningful engagement in policy, planning, and budgeting at all levels. Champion rights, peace and security by linking housing, child protection, and the youth, peace and security (YPS) agenda. Showcase child-centered and youth-led innovations, ranging from data-driven climate resilience projects to digital tools for urban safety, and establish formal frameworks for integrating these insights into municipal and national decision-making. Facilitate concrete co-investment commitments from local and national governments and the private sector for age-responsive infrastructure, ensuring intergenerational influence in urban governance persists beyond WUF13.
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