Rafael Tuts is director of the global solutions division of UN-Habitat. Previously he was coordinator of the urban planning and design branch of UN-Habitat, promoting compact, integrated and connected cities that are inclusive and resilient to climate change. He has also contributed to overseeing the housing and slum upgrading branch of UN-Habitat with a focus on the ‘Housing at the Centre’ approach and the Participatory Slum Upgrading Programme.

Following the Rio+20 Conference, he coordinated UN-Habitat’s engagement in the formulation of the Sustainable Development Goals. He authored and co-edited several publications on a wide range of sustainable urban development topics.

Raf and colleagues from the World Bank, UNEP and Cities Alliance received the World Bank vice-president Team Award in 2011 for global partnership building on Cities and Climate Change. He also received ISOCARP’s 50th Anniversary Award in 2015 in recognition of UN-Habitat’s urban planning work.

Prior to joining UN-Habitat in 1995 Raf worked for the department of architecture, urbanism, and planning of the University of Leuven in Belgium and the housing research and development unit of the University of Nairobi.

He obtained a Master of Science degree in architectural engineering from the University of Leuven in 1985.