Accelerating the Implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals and the New Urban Agenda in Informal Settlements and Slums

Informal settlements and slums comprise a vast portion of human settlements globally, fostering deep-rooted, complex communities and social networks. Their ubiquity can be regarded as the reactive byproduct of acute global housing pressures and crises.

Paradoxically, the fact that they have, in many regions, proliferated to become the preponderant form of housing is direly contradicted by the marginal public funding allocated to them, resulting in the existence of many underserved and underdeveloped areas.

Underserved areas are usually marked by social and economic issues and challenges, ones that encumber the realization of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) (i.e., Agenda 2030) and the New Urban Agenda. This session, accordingly, explores the importance of recognizing and upgrading informal settlements and slums, highlighting their immense untapped potential and reflecting on the SDGs and New Urban Agenda.