XJTLU Scholar Dr. Xu Yunqing Invited to Attend UN-Habitat Expert Meeting

On May 29, 2025, the second session of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme Assembly (UN-Habitat Assembly) opened at the UN-Habitat headquarters in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya.

Representatives from around the globe attended the meeting, and Dr. Xu Yunqing, Senior Associate Professor at the School of Design at Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University (XJTLU) and Director of the XJTLU Centre for Urban and Environmental Studies, participated as an academic representative.

The UN-Habitat Assembly convenes a plenary session every four years and is the highest global decision-making body on sustainable urbanization and human settlements.

In her opening address, UN-Habitat Executive Director Anacláudia Rossbach emphasized that the current global housing crisis affects nearly 3 billion people, highlighting issues such as informal housing and homelessness, infrastructure deficiencies, and climate change challenges. She called for sustained global synergy and adaptive policy planning and action to address the crisis.

A core agenda item of the Assembly is to evaluate achievements and resolve to adopt the "UN-Habitat Strategic Plan 2026-2029."

This strategy proposes three pillars: inclusive prosperity, recovery and reconstruction, and climate sustainability, ensuring adequate housing, access to land and basic services, and accelerating the process of achieving the New Urban Agenda and the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

As the flagship publication of UN-Habitat, the World Cities Report organizes research regularly and is released globally, aiming to provide a comprehensive analysis of global urbanization trends, urban development policies, and future urban development. As a member of the "International Expert Group for the UN-Habitat 2026 World Cities Report," Dr. Xu Yunqing was invited to attend and provide intellectual support for the research report together with experts from around the globe.