Co-producing Adequate Housing Monitoring Smart Inclusive Transitions towards Equitable Cities

Responding to the WUF13 theme, this Urban Library event addresses a key implementation gap in urban policy: How cities can plan, monitor, and evaluate the equitable delivery of housing and essential services amid rapid transformation. Organised with UN-Habitat’s Knowledge & Innovation Branch, the event introduces the "Monitoring Smart Inclusive Transitions (SIT)" as Implementation Tool and convenes policy debate among pioneering cities worldwide. The event is structured around three guiding questions: [First] How can cities assess whether smart urban transformation is translating into tangible improvements in quality of life and equity for residents?: Addressing this question, the event launches the "Monitoring Smart Inclusive Transitions (SIT) for Equitable Urban Futures", a global, people-centred and evidence-based framework developed with UN-Habitat. SIT conceptualises smart and inclusive urban development as a policy transition, focusing on how housing and essential services are delivered through the interaction of Institutional Innovation-Digital Innovation-Social Justice over time. Operationalised firmly through the Global Urban Monitoring Framework (GUMF), SIT enables cities to identify service gaps and opportunities and adjust policies based on evidence rather than assumptions. [Second] How can SIT monitoring frameworks be operationalised to inform governance, budgeting, and service delivery?: The event presents the first full application of SIT, featuring Suwon Special City, Republic of Korea. Suwon is the first city globally to apply SIT across the full policy cycle, from diagnosis and monitoring to inter-departmental coordination and policy redesign. The Mayor of Suwon will demonstrate how SIT has been used to analyse Housing and basic service accessibility and affordability alongside digital inclusion, generating actionable insights to prioritise vulnerable groups and design integrated policy pathways. [Third] Can SIT be adapted and scaled across diverse urban contexts?: A multi-city dialogue brings together cities from Asia, the Middle East, and Africa to discuss adaptation, scalability, mutual learning, and pathways for future inter-city cooperation to advance equitable housing and essential services globally. Overall, we foster peer learning, knowledge sharing, and debate, positioning housing as the anchor of Smart Inclusive Transitions, supported by inclusive tools - videos and visual materials to extend engagement beyond the event.