On the third day of the World Urban Forum (WUF13) in Baku, discussions increasingly focused on one of the most pressing questions facing rapidly urbanising regions: how to turn political commitments into practical urban solutions.
As part of WUF13, an African Ministerial Meeting is bringing together officials responsible for housing and urban development from across the continent to discuss shared urbanisation challenges and coordinated policy responses.
The ministerial-level dialogue, co-convened by UN-Habitat, the African Union Commission and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), is focused on translating the Nairobi Declaration into concrete continental action.
The Nairobi Declaration, adopted on 10 April 2026 during the Second Africa Urban Forum, is being presented as Africa’s most substantive collective urban policy framework to date. It focuses on six key areas:
The declaration also identifies WUF13 and the July 2026 United Nations General Assembly High-Level Review of the New Urban Agenda as major international platforms for advancing Africa’s urban priorities.
According to organisers, the ministerial meeting is specifically designed to move “from declaration to delivery.” The session aims to adopt a Ministerial Implementation Action Plan outlining concrete commitments, lead actors and timelines across priority areas linked to housing, governance, climate resilience and urban finance.
Participants are also expected to agree on a unified African position ahead of the July 2026 UN review process.
The discussions come as many African cities continue to face mounting pressure from rapid urbanisation, housing shortages, infrastructure gaps and increasing climate vulnerability.
AnewZ’s Aytan Shukurova, reporting from the forum in Baku, said the focus of discussions had shifted from political commitments towards practical implementation, particularly on issues such as housing shortages, land access, infrastructure gaps, climate resilience and urban financing.
Participants at the forum stressed that urban development strategies must go beyond infrastructure alone and focus on long-term resilience and quality of life.
Speaking to AnewZ, Mme Bah Arabia Touré, President and Chief Executive Officer of ACI-SA, highlighted the importance of aligning national urban strategies with the African Union’s Vision 2063 framework.
“It's an opportunity for our different countries to be able to go over the African Union Forum statement and to also share our vision individually in individual countries as far as the Vision 2063.”
She said climate resilience and dignified housing are becoming central priorities in urban policy discussions across the continent.
“Which is mostly being able to build, to focus on climate control, resilient homes and making sure that a home is more of a dignified tool rather than just an asset for the future.”
Officials and experts also emphasised the scale of urban governance and planning challenges facing many African states, particularly in rapidly expanding cities.
Mohamed Coulibaly, Land Specialist and Programme Manager at UN-Habitat, said the discussions involve both Francophone and Anglophone countries facing similar urban pressures.
“We will have Francophone and Anglophone countries, Kenya, Ghana, Nigeria, Mali, Democratic Republic of Congo, Angola and many others.”
Referring to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where he currently works, Coulibaly pointed to several urgent issues affecting urban development.
“We are here with the Minister of Urban Development of this country. The main issues are informal settlement, issue of mobility in the urban areas and also the issue of infrastructure. The discussion is going to be around financial but also on technical issues, the development of the urban plans because there is a lot of issue of land occupation and land planning.”
Unlike many traditional high-level forums, organisers say the session has been deliberately structured around adoption and implementation rather than open-ended debate. Substantive positions were largely prepared in advance through consultations ahead of WUF13.
The broader goal is to establish clearer implementation mechanisms for urban development policies across Africa while strengthening coordination on housing, governance, climate adaptation and infrastructure financing before the July 2026 U.N. General Assembly High-Level Review of the New Urban Agenda.
As WUF13 continues in Baku, discussions surrounding the Nairobi Declaration are increasingly focused on turning urban policy commitments into measurable action. Speaking to AnewZ, participants and experts stressed that housing, land access, infrastructure, climate resilience and urban governance are deeply interconnected challenges requiring coordinated continental strategies, as African cities continue to grow at one of the fastest rates in the world.
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