Digital Housing Tools for Sustainable City Transformation Training for Local Government Leaders

The WUF13 theme underscores an urgent need to address the global housing crisis while strengthening urban resilience. Nearly 3 billion people worldwide lack adequate housing, with over 1 billion living in informal settlements. As climate change and inequality intensify, cities must integrate housing policy with disaster risk management, inclusive planning and innovative urban systems. Digital innovation is recognised as a key enabler of smart city frameworks, emphasising data, connectivity and digital tools to advance SDG11. Digitalisation, including Artificial Intelligence, is rapidly transforming societies and enhancing local governments’ capacity to deliver services. New technologies are opening frontiers for citizens, policy-makers and public officials to improve governance and deliver services. Evidence shows that even basic e-services can drive efficiency. In 2020, the World Bank reported that online permitting leads to faster, transparent and less costly processes. Advances such as satellite imagery and digital urban mapping are revolutionising the mapping of informal settlements and how city and municipal extensions are planned to support proximity to jobs and enable transport planners improve connectivity. However, research indicates that local governments face challenges related to access to technology, governance and institutional capacity, limiting their ability to fully harness digital tools for sustainable urbanization. To address these gaps, training programmes and peer learning initiatives have demonstrated strong value in advancing the smart cities agenda. The United Nations Innovation Technology Accelerator for Cities (UNITAC) is an innovation lab partnership between UN-Habitat, the UN Office for Information and Communications Technology and HafenCity University. UNITAC provides strategic and technical support for urban digital transformation strategies, tools, training, knowledge exchange and technical advice at global, regional, national and local levels. The proposed WUF13 training will present global frameworks and best practices on digital urban development, equip leaders with practical UNITAC tools, and foster peer exchange through case studies, hands-on demonstrations and facilitated learning.