UN-Habitat head: Urban planning should be main condition of financial projects

Urban planning should become one of the main assurance mechanisms for large financial and infrastructure projects, stated Anaclaudia Rossbach, Executive Director of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat), at the Business Roundtable organized within the framework of the 13th session of the World Urban Forum (WUF13) held in Baku.

She noted that financial institutions should pay attention not only to the economic indicators of projects but also to their compliance with urban plans: "For example, if a bridge project is not integrated into the urban plan, the sustainability of that project comes into question. While social and climate safety standards exist, urban planning standards have not yet been sufficiently developed."

She added that the role of cities in combating climate change is increasingly coming to the forefront: "80% of the new generation of national climate commitments specifically highlight the importance of cities. In the majority of these documents, the housing sector is indicated as one of the key components of climate policy. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) will prepare a separate report dedicated to cities for the first time."