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.
One United Nations. Multiple regions. One goal: better quality of life in cities. Explore how interregional collaboration and the Global Quality of Life Initiative are driving tangible change on the ground. "From Commitment to Impact - Advancing Quality of Life in Cities as ONE" brings together all the United Nations Regional Commissions and UN-Habitat as ONE to advance a shared, coherent understanding of quality of life in cities. In the context of rapid urbanization, housing pressures, climate and environmental stress, and growing social and spatial inequalities, the session positions quality of life as an integrative, people-centered framework that connects urban policies, planning, and investment to residents' lived experiences and well-being. Building on system-wide interregional collaboration, the event continues the discussion that started on the topic among regional commissions at WUF12 and provides a platform to explore unified interregional perspectives on quality of life in cities, highlighting both common challenges and region-specific priorities. It will present and debate key insights from a joint interregional paper on quality of life in cities, developed collaboratively by all United Nations Regional Commissions and UN-Habitat, offering shared concepts and policy-relevant messages to support cities and national governments in operationalizing quality of life within urban development processes. To ground these perspectives in practice, the session will feature city-level experiences from cities piloting the Global Quality of Life Initiative launched by UN-Habitat in 2023 and sponsored by the Quality of Life Program of Saudi Arabia. These experiences will demonstrate how quality of life framework, indicators, and data are being applied to inform local decision-making, prioritize investments, address inequalities, and strengthen urban resilience. Through this combination of interregional analysis and local practice, the event illustrates how cities, regions, and the United Nations system can move decisively from commitment to impact in advancing quality of life for all. The proposed event aims to: - Explore unified interregional perspectives on quality of life in cities across all United Nations Regional Commissions. - Launch a joint interregional paper on quality of life in cities and present key interregional insights. - Showcase practical city-level experiences from cities piloting the Global Quality of Life Initiative. - Strengthen interregional and multi-level collaboration to support the scaling and replication of effective practices. - Position quality of life as a strategic and operational framework for urban policy and planning. Facilitator: Sukaina Al-Nasrawi Partners: UNESCWA - United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (Lebanon) Quality of Life Program Center (Saudi Arabia) United Nations Human Settlements Programme - UN-Habitat Regional Office for Arab States (Egypt) Panelists: Mr. Curt Garrigan, Chief, Sustainable Urban Development Section, United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific ESCAP (Thailand) Mr. Diego Aulestia, Chief, Human Settlements Unit, Sustainable Development and Human Settlements Division, United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean ECLAC (Chile) Mr. Dmitry Mariyasin, Deputy Executive Secretary, United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (ECE) (Switzerland) Ms. Rania Hedeya, Regional Director, United Nations Human Settlements Programme -UN-Habitat Regional Office for Arab States (Egypt) Mr. Abdallah Al Harbi, Transformation Leader, Quality of Life Program Center (Saudi Arabia) Ms. Atkeyelsh Persson, Chief, Urbanization and Development Section (UDS), Gender, Poverty and Social Policy Division (GPSPD) UNECA - United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (Ethiopia)
