UN-Habitat, officially the United Nations Human Settlements Programme, is a UN agency headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya. Its origins date back to 1975, when the United Nations General Assembly established the United Nations Habitat and Human Settlements Foundation. Formal operations began after the Habitat I conference in Vancouver in 1976, which brought the challenges of global urbanization to the UN’s agenda. In 1977, UN-Habitat was established with a mandate to assist member states in managing urbanization, especially in developing regions. Over the following decades, the scope expanded significantly, particularly after major conferences—Habitat II in Istanbul (1996), which resulted in the Habitat Agenda, and Habitat III in Quito (2016), which produced the New Urban Agenda.
Today, UN-Habitat operates in over 90 countries, collaborating with governments, city administrations, and local groups. Its main areas of work include urban legislation and governance, planning, economic development, access to basic services, housing and slum upgrading, disaster risk reduction, and urban research. Notably, it prioritizes issues such as adequate housing, cities and climate change, and localized sustainable development goals.
Current projects demonstrate the range of its activities—from urban regeneration in Yangon to slum upgrading and water access improvement in African and Asian cities. Its governance structure includes the UN-Habitat Assembly, an Executive Board, and a Committee of Permanent Representatives, aiming for transparent oversight and diverse participation. Throughout its history, UN-Habitat has shifted from a modest entity to a central agency in addressing rapid urbanization and its global challenges.