In May 2026, during the thirteenth session of the World Urban Forum (WUF13) in Baku, Azerbaijan, United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) signed a Memorandum of Understanding establishing a four-year strategic partnership, according to a press release by UN-Habitat. The agreement will run until February 2030 and provides a framework for collaboration on urban planning, affordable housing, water and sanitation, and climate-resilient urbanization across Asia and the Pacific. It is designed to translate shared priorities into joint action on the ground.
The partnership strengthens UN-Habitat’s Strategic Plan 2026–2029 by linking its normative and technical expertise with ADB’s financing capacity and regional reach. Together, the two organizations aim to support the scaling of integrated, people-centred urban development solutions. The collaboration responds to the complex and interconnected challenges currently facing cities in the region.
Under the Memorandum of Understanding, UN-Habitat and ADB will work jointly across several priority areas relevant to urban development in Asia and the Pacific. The framework focuses on affordable housing, water and sanitation, urban planning, and climate-resilient urbanization. It aligns the technical knowledge and convening role of UN-Habitat with the financing capacity of ADB. The agreement is intended to deliver concrete results across the region.
“This agreement marks an important milestone in our collaboration to advance adequate housing and sustainable urban development across Asia and the Pacific. The challenges facing cities today are too complex, too interconnected, and too urgent to be addressed by any one institution alone,” said Anacláudia Rossbach, Executive Director of UN-Habitat. Norio Saito, Senior Director, Water and Urban Development Sector Office, ADB, added: “We see strong complementarity between ADB’s financing capacity and UN-Habitat’s global mandate, technical knowledge, and convening role. The value of this MOU lies in its practical orientation – giving us a framework to move from shared priorities to joint action.”
The partnership reflects a shared commitment to strengthening sustainable, inclusive, and climate-resilient urban development across Asia and the Pacific. It is structured to translate shared priorities into concrete action on the ground. Running until February 2030, the agreement sets out a clear four-year horizon for cooperation between the two organizations.
