World Urban Forum 11 — Transforming Our Cities for a Better Urban Future
The 11th World Urban Forum drew over 20,000 participants to Katowice, Poland — making it the largest WUF in history. Central themes were rapid urban population growth, the 1.1 billion people living in informal settlements, climate resilience in cities, and closing the gap between the aspirations of the New Urban Agenda and on-the-ground reality.
Urbanisation as the defining demographic shift of the 21st century
The 2007 urban tipping point — when for the first time more than half of humanity lived in cities — was the backdrop to WUF11's opening plenary. UN-Habitat presented its World Cities Report 2022, projecting that the global urban population will grow from roughly 4.4 billion today to nearly 6.7 billion by 2050. Almost all of this growth — about 2.2 billion people — will occur in cities of Asia and Africa.
The World Bank Urban Development team presented complementary data: cities already produce about 80% of global GDP, consume two-thirds of global energy, and emit roughly 70% of greenhouse gases. How cities grow over the next three decades will effectively determine whether global climate commitments are kept or broken. See the urban population glossary entry for definitions and measurement methods.
The 1.1 billion informal settlement residents
One of WUF11's most cited statistics came from UN-Habitat's database: approximately 1.1 billion people — about one in eight humans — live in informal settlements or slums lacking secure tenure, durable housing, adequate space, clean water, or sanitation. The Cities Alliance noted that the absolute number is growing in sub-Saharan Africa faster than urban upgrading programmes can address, even as the share of urban residents in slums has fallen globally.
The SDG 11 target calls for ensuring access to adequate, safe, and affordable housing for all by 2030. Progress reviews at WUF11 showed this target firmly off track in low-income countries, where land tenure insecurity and informal construction outpace formal housing supply by factors of 3–5×.
Heat, flood, and sea level — cities at the front line
Sessions co-hosted by ICLEI — Local Governments for Sustainability examined how 800+ million urban residents in coastal and riverine cities face compounding climate risks. The C40 Cities network presented adaptation finance gaps averaging $800 per capita across vulnerable cities.
Counting urban populations: satellite vs census
Researchers from the EU Global Human Settlement Layer showed how satellite-derived urban extent maps can fill in where census data is stale — particularly in fast-growing African and Asian cities where intercensal periods stretch to 10–15 years.
Rural-to-urban migration: not just a developing-world story
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) presented evidence that rural-to-urban migration is accelerating in climate-stressed regions. By 2050, climate could push 216 million internal migrants — see our full analysis in climate migration projections.
Closing the $1 trillion urban infrastructure gap
The African Development Bank and World Bank jointly estimated the annual urban infrastructure financing gap in low- and middle-income countries at $1 trillion. Municipal bond markets, land-value capture, and green finance were discussed as partial solutions.
Katowice: a post-industrial city as urban showcase
The choice of Katowice was deliberate. The city — the centre of Poland's coal-mining region — has undergone a significant economic and demographic transition since the 1990s. Its population fell from a peak of over 360,000 to roughly 280,000 as coal mines closed, illustrating the phenomenon of urban shrinkage that affects post-industrial cities from Detroit to Donetsk. Conference tours showed how Katowice has converted former industrial land into cultural spaces and green infrastructure — a template discussed for other shrinking post-industrial cities worldwide.
This demographic contrast — cities shrinking in post-industrial Europe while expanding at breakneck pace in Africa — underscored how "urbanisation" is not a single process. OECD urban policy research presented at WUF11 called for differentiated policy frameworks that address both growth and shrinkage contexts.
The New Urban Agenda: five years on
The New Urban Agenda (NUA) was adopted at Habitat III in Quito in 2016 as a 20-year roadmap for sustainable urbanisation. WUF11 marked the halfway point and found mixed results. High-income countries have made progress on smart-city data infrastructure, green building codes, and transit-oriented development. In low-income countries, the gap between NUA commitments and implementation capacity — financial, technical, and institutional — remains vast.
The conference final declaration called for a reinforced global urban monitoring framework aligned with the SDG monitoring system, with UN-Habitat as custodian of SDG 11 indicators. Population data — specifically disaggregated urban/rural counts — was identified as a foundational input that many developing-country statistical agencies still lack. Explore the urban population glossary for how these distinctions are measured and why they matter.
Frequently asked questions
What is the World Urban Forum?
The World Urban Forum (WUF) is a biennial global conference convened by UN-Habitat. It is the world's foremost urban gathering, bringing together governments, city mayors, NGOs, researchers, private sector, and civil society to discuss sustainable urbanisation, housing, and implementation of the New Urban Agenda.
How fast is global urbanisation happening?
In 2007 the world crossed the 50% urban threshold for the first time in history. By 2024 approximately 56% of the global population lives in urban areas. The UN projects this will reach 68% by 2050, adding 2.5 billion urban residents — mostly in Asia and Africa, where urbanisation is fastest. See the urban population glossary entry for more.
What is an informal settlement?
An informal settlement (or slum) is a residential area lacking secure land tenure, durable housing, adequate living area, access to clean water, or access to sanitation — as defined by UN-Habitat. About 1.1 billion people live in informal settlements today, and the number is growing in many cities in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.
How does urban growth relate to overall population growth?
Urban population growth comes from two sources: natural increase (more births than deaths within cities) and rural-to-urban migration. In Africa, both are significant — cities have young age structures with high natural increase AND attract large migrant flows. In Europe and East Asia, urban growth is almost entirely from migration, since fertility in cities is very low.