Image © Genevieve Drouin / Nelson Saule
On 16–17 July 2026, the United Nations General Assembly held the High-Level Meeting on the Midterm Review of the New Urban Agenda (NUA) at UN Headquarters in New York. Taking place ten years after the adoption of the New Urban Agenda at Habitat III, the meeting assessed progress made since 2016, identified remaining gaps and agreed on priority actions to accelerate its implementation through to 2036.
Held under the theme “Delivering Sustainable Urbanization for All: Accelerating and Scaling Implementation of the New Urban Agenda to 2036 Together”, the meeting brought together Member States, local and regional governments, UN agencies, civil society and other stakeholders to discuss key challenges including adequate housing, land, basic services, urban financing, climate resilience, multilevel governance and digital transformation. The official programme of the High-Level Meeting is available here.
The meeting concluded with the adoption of a political declaration renewing global commitment to the New Urban Agenda, approved with 148 countries voted in favour and only the United States and Israel voted against the declaration. The Political Declaration is available here.
Habitat International Coalition (HIC) participated in the High-Level Meeting, alongside its members and partners, advocating for a human rights-based, people-centred and community-led approach to sustainable urbanisation. HIC was represented by Genevieve Drouin, Executive Director of Rooftops Canada and HIC Board Member for North America and Canada, and Nelson Saule Jr., Coordinator of the Global Platform for the Right to the City. They participated in the official programme, including plenary sessions and multi-stakeholder panels.
Genevieve also participated in the Ministerial Luncheon on the Midterm Review of the New Urban Agenda, joining high-level roundtable discussions with Member States, local and regional governments, UN agencies and other stakeholders on accelerating the implementation of the New Urban Agenda. She also spoke at the Canada–Spain Ministerial Working Breakfast on Housing, bringing forward HIC’s priorities, including the need to recognise housing as a human right, support community-led and non-profit housing solutions, strengthen multilevel cooperation, and place the experiences and proposals of communities at the centre of implementation.
The participation also created opportunities to strengthen HIC’s relationship with UN-Habitat. Genevieve held exchanges with UN-Habitat Executive Director Anacláudia Rossbach, connected with Omar Siddique from UN-Habitat Canada. Throughout the meeting, Genevieve connected also with UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Adequate Housing, Koldo Casla, and representatives of the Canadian Government and members of the UN-Habitat team.
HIC will continue working with its Members and partners to follow up on the outcomes of the High-Level Meeting and advocate for the implementation of the New Urban Agenda through concrete, rights-based and community-led action.
