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Housing and Land Management

Introduction

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The UNECE Housing and Land Management Unit is a secretariat to the UNECE Committee on Urban Development, Housing and Land Management and its Working Party on Land Administration (WPLA) and the Real Estate Market Advisory Group (REM).

The CUDHLM works to promote

  • Affordable, adequate, climate-neutral housing, including for those with special needs and vulnerable population groups
  • Compact, inclusive, circular, resilient, smart and sustainable cities
  • Transparent and efficient land use, and property registration

This work is based on principles and objectives of key United Nations policy documents on housing and urban development, including, the Geneva UN Charter on Sustainable Housing and Place and Life in the ECE – A Regional Action Plan 2030. The proposed activities support implementation of decisions of the annual sessions of the Committee on Urban Development, Housing and Land Management.

In focus

 83rd session of the UNECE Committee on Urban Development, Housing and Land Management (3-6 October 2022, San Marino)

The eighty-third session of the UNECE Committee on Urban Development, Housing and Land Management took place at Kursaal Congress Centre, San Marino (3-6 October 2022). The host country offered a field trip with interesting activities on 7 October 2022.

The eighty-third session of the Committee supported regional exchange of experiences and good practices promoting affordable, adequate and climate-neutral housing; and inclusive, circular, smart and sustainable cities as part of countries’ response to and recovery plans for the COVID-19 pandemic. The session held also some side events, including the In Focus: SDG 11.

Please click here for more details on the Committee session and its side events and presentations by speakers.

 

Second Forum of Mayors (4-5 April 2022)

The Second Forum of Mayors (II Forum of Mayors 2022) was held back-to-back with the Regional Forum on Sustainable Development for the UNECE Region.

The Forum of Mayors is a platform for on-going exchange and mutual learning where Mayors present their efforts to tackle challenges in their cities. Cities will learn from each other’s best practices in the areas of housing and climate-neutral buildings, green cities and nature-based solutions, sustainable urban transport and safer roads, and smart urban development solutions.

The Second Forum of Mayors consisted of 4 sessions related to SDGs and COVID-19 recovery action plans and strategies.

Watch an engaging video on the Forum of Mayors

A round-up of the UNECE Ministerial Meeting on Urban Development, Housing and Land Management and the 82nd Committee session (6-8 October 2021)

The Ministerial Meeting and the Committee session had over 400 registered participants from 45 countries. Many more followed the meetings via the UN web TV for which registration was not necessary. 40 Ministers and heads of delegations delivered statements during the Ministerial Meeting.

The Ministerial Meeting launched a report on improving housing affordability in the UNECE region - #Housing2030: Effective policies for affordable housing in the UNECE region - and endorsed a regional action plan for the UNECE region tackling challenges from the COVID-19 pandemic, climate and housing emergencies in region, city, neighbourhood and homes - Place and Life in the ECE - A Regional Action Plan 2030.

The Ministerial Meeting also opened an exhibition of sketches by Norman Foster, a world-renowned architect, to illustrate the Regional Action Plan.

A well-attended side event on SDG 11 opened the events. UNECE co-organized the In Focus: SDG 11 event with the Geneva Cities Hub.   

More details on the meetings here

Highlights

 

New videos to watch

  • #Housing2030 - Time to think and do differently > link
  • Gary Strong, Chair of the International Fire Safety Standards Coalition, on international standards on fire safety for buildings  
  • Olga Algayerova, Executive Secretary of UNECE, talks about SDG 11 - Sustainable Cities and Communities 
  • "Too little space for too many people", said Erion Veliaj, Mayor of Tirana, Albania, on the occasion of Day of Cities ( 8 April 2019, Geneva) 
  • "My call to action is to make sure that we listen to the people and the communities that those policies are designed for", said Susan Aitken, Leader of Glasgow City Council, on the occasion of Day of Cities (8 April 2019, Geneva) 

In numbers