Urbanisation Tops Cairo Agenda As Un Forum Returns To Africa

The World Urban Forum WUF, the global conference on sustainable urbanisation, returned to Africa for its 12th edition this November the forum was held in one of the continents biggest cities, Cairo.

Established in 2001 by the United Nations Human Settlements Programme UN-Habitat, the first WUF was held in Nairobi, Kenya, but had not come back to Africa since.

From 4 to 8 November, representatives of international, regional and local governments, academics, business people, community leaders and civil society convened in Egypt to examine one of the most pressing issues facing the world today as more people abandon rural areas to settle in the urban centres at a paced rate that requires big structural policies and planning. The World Bank estimates that by 2050 nearly 7 out of 10 people will live in cities.

With a city population of 10.2 million and a Greater Cairo metropolitan area of over 22m, Cairo was an especially relevant destination for the conferences return to Africa. The city has suffered with significant strains on urban services and planning, even while proving a dynamic business and tourism destination.

We are glad to see it happening for the first time in a city the size of Cairo. That definitely gives us a very good opportunity to exchange and leverage the experience of the country, as well as to brainstorm to reach common solutions to the most demanding issues for urban development in Egypt, in Africa and the world, Ahmed Rezk, UN-Habitat Egypt director, told African Business.