World Urban Forum highlights global housing crisis and need for international cooperation

The gap between the world's haves and have-nots was put in blunt terms on the opening day of the World Urban Forum (WUF) in Baku on Sunday, when Slovakia's Deputy Prime Minister Tomas Taraba said that while 80% of Slovaks own their home, some countries see ownership rates as low as 20%.

"This creates a really big disruption in the social quality of living," Taraba told Euronews, "and the increasing prices are an extremely big topic at this moment."

The contrast framed a day of discussions that drew world leaders, ministers and urban development experts to Azerbaijan's capital, where more than 40,000 delegates from 182 countries have gathered for WUF13, the United Nations' flagship conference on sustainable urbanisation.

One message cut across regional and political divides: the housing crisis can no longer be addressed within national borders alone.

Delegates from Asia, Europe and Africa said that rapid urbanisation, climate pressure and infrastructure deficits were outpacing what any single government could manage.

Malaysia's Minister of Housing and President of the UN-Habitat Assembly Nga Kor Ming was direct about what it would take to mobilise investment.

"It's important for governments to come up with decent projects that are actually convincing, because we need to back up whatever project with good track record and integrity," he told Euronews.

"Once that can be done, we believe there are people who are more than willing to step forward."

Czech Deputy Minister for Regional Development Filip Endal said the forum's value lay in the exchange of approaches rather than the search for a single solution.

"I do not think that there exists one single approach how to improve everything all around the world," Endal told Euronews.

"But this is a very good place for inspiration, and I will come home with some ideas on how to make maybe some new approaches and new ideas on how to improve the situation."

African delegates said the urgency was greatest for developing nations, which need greater access to financing and technology to keep pace with the rapid expansion of cities.

Hamat Bah, Gambia's Minister of Land and Housing, said Azerbaijan's own reconstruction experience was instructive.

"We need to learn from what we have in Azerbaijan — their courage, their dedication to get things done," he told Euronews. “It is a driving force. We commit national commitment together. It's a driving that makes this country back in the map,” Bah added.

The forum continues in Baku through 22 May.