Bogotá is rethinking housing as a driver of urban transformation. In this interview, Vanessa Velasco Bernal, Chief Secretary of Bogotá’s District Secretariat for Habitat, explains how the city connects housing, financial inclusion and urban revitalisation to create better access to opportunities.
Can private capital help solve the housing crisis? At #WUF13, Laura Puttkamer explores why financing needs strong cities, public investment and long-term partnerships.
How can rapidly growing cities provide adequate housing while becoming more climate-resilient? Birgit Pickel, Director General – Sustainable Development and Climate, BMZ discusses the role of cities, municipal partnerships and urban financing at WUF13.
Where a child grows up can shape their future. Yet housing policy rarely reflects this. Why cities must move beyond units—and start building environments where children can truly thrive. By Manish Thakre
Around 1.1 billion people live in informal settlements, yet their systems remain invisible to urban planning. Far from deficient, these neighbourhoods operate as complex resource networks. The challenge is no longer understanding them – but planning with them.
Short-term rentals are reshaping Mexico City’s housing market. As gentrification and displacement accelerate, protests reveal how tourism, remote work, and weak regulation deepen the urban housing crisis. By Clara-Luisa Weichelt
Community-led rumah flat in Jakarta show how housing can function again as a social good, not a speculative asset. Elisa Sutanudjaja traces this shift towards more just and affordable cities.
Gulf purpose-built cities like Masdar and NEOM often fall short of their grand visions, becoming underpopulated and more symbolic than lived. Yasser Elsheshtawy calls for more grounded, socially responsive approaches that prioritise everyday life over spectacle.
From half-finished flyovers and hours of standstill to “limited public funding,” public transport across the Global South is chronically underfunded. The consequence? Eroded public trust. Tuhu Nugraha shows how blockchain technology could turn promises into verifiable progress on sustainable infrastructure – enabling shared responsibility, fairness, and renewed trust.
Across the Global South, families like Asma Banu’s live under eviction threats while powering cities. Her story demands dignity, secure tenure and basic services for all. By Muaz Hussain
Abuja, Nigeria’s fast-growing capital, is home to Garki Village, a prominent slum area. Often dismissed as an eyesore, it challenges conventional ideas of housing interventions. Maryam Abbakyari shows how empathy and co-creation with residents can transform slum upgrading from technical fixes into climate-responsive, culturally rooted solutions.
In Mozambique, low-density urban expansion can either enable inclusive livelihoods or entrench marginalisation, depending on how land is allocated, serviced and integrated with urban networks. Sara Márquez Martín and Mercilia Lombe show how new policies and participatory projects like Chamanculo C pave the way for inclusive, sustainable urban futures.
The global housing crisis is a disaster – and it’s unjust. Ariana Karamallis argues for radical change that shifts power to the majority: the people who are affected.
Tokyo's roof gardens are more than just aesthetic urban features. Urban geographer John-Guy Perrem on the distinction of Tokyo’s roof gardens and the city’s increasingly commercialised public spaces.
Are we all going to live in mushrooms soon? Alexander Jachnow explains how fungi-based construction could be the solution to make building practices more sustainable.
