UN-Habitat Meets with Local and Regional Government Networks

The newly appointed Executive Director of UN-Habitat, Anacláudia Rossbach, met in Barcelona with representatives of regional and local government networks including FIDEU, Metrópoli, MedCities, UCLG, Local 2030, and ORU Fogar.

Rossbach - a Brazilian economist with over two decades of experience in informal settlements and urban policy - assumed her position on August 12, 2024, after being elected by the United Nations General Assembly. In the meeting, she shared UN-Habitat’s priorities and objectives for the coming years, with a particular focus on the urgent need to address precarious settlements affecting thousands of cities and nearly 1 billion people, as well as the global housing crisis.

“Cities are not prepared for such massive informal settlements”, Rossbach warned, while proposing to initiate a dialogue process with local and regional governments to develop concrete proposals to be presented at the 2026 World Urban Forum, which will be held in Baku, Azerbaijan, from May 17 to 22.

The new Director also stressed the urgency of strengthening capacities to deal with the rapid global urbanization process and highlighted the need for public policies that - she said - could be supported by UN-Habitat.

The various networks present at the meeting expressed concern over the fragmentation of initiatives, both among the local and regional organizations themselves and among the different UN agencies, which do not always act in a coordinated manner.

Speaking on behalf of the Global Taskforce, Emilia Sáiz, Secretary General of UCLG, emphasized the need for a permanent, institutional, and truly effective coordination between local and regional governments and the United Nations system.

On behalf of ORU Fogar, its Secretary-General Carles Llorens, urged Rossbach to ensure that UN-Habitat maintains a territorial approach beyond an exclusively urban focus. Llorens stressed the importance of achieving territorial balance and called for prioritizing attention to the role of intermediary cities as connectors within the territory. He also highlighted the impact of rural exodus: “Rural exodus is one of the main causes of informal settlements that arise in cities and, therefore, should be a priority for intervention,” Llorens stated.

In response, the Executive Director committed to integrating this territorial perspective into UN-Habitat’s future strategy, thereby reinforcing a regional dimension that complements urban development.