"Transforming our cities for a better urban future", is the main theme of the next World Urban Forum (WUF) which will take place, for the first time in Eastern Europe, in the city of Katowice, Poland, from the 26th to the 30th of June 2022. This global event on sustainable urbanisation is convened every two years by the United Nations Human Settlement Programme (UN-Habitat), and this time, it is co-organised by the Polish Ministry of Development Funds and Regional Policy and the Katowice City Office.
The WUF is one of the main occasions to take a closer look at the most challenging issues facing the world today: rapid urbanisation and its impact on communities, cities, economies, climate change and politics.
"The long term outlook is for a world that will continue to urbanise over the next decade: today, 56% of the world's population lives in cities, by 2030, it will be 60%", UN-Habitat says. "Urban areas are the engines that will absorb virtually all future global population growth. All regions are expected to become more urbanised in the next ten years. Clearly, this says that the future of humanity is undeniably urban and that cities must be well planned in order to ensure sustainability, equity and shared prosperity".
What kind of cities are needed to sustain the future of humanity? How do we reimagine the future of cities? What do we want our cities to be like? These are some of the key questions that are being asked about the future of cities that will be explored here.
Registration, the application form to organise side events and the booking of exhibition spaces are now open. Registration will be open until the 22nd of June, while the application form deadline for organising side events is the 7th of March. Booking of exhibition spaces will be accepted on a first-come, first-serve basis and will be subject to space availability.
- For more information on the event, check the official WUF website.
