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UN-Habitat Executive Director: We will renew the urban agenda in New York

Anaclaudia Rossbach, Executive Director of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat)

19 May 2026 17:15 (UTC +04:00)

“We will renew the urban agenda in New York," Anaclaudia Rossbach, Executive Director of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat), said during the session titled “Artificial Intelligence for Cities – Urban Planning and Building Smart, Sustainable Communities” held within the framework of WUF13, APA reports.

She said that homelessness challenges prevail around the world: “We have specific work programs to combat this problem. We are trying to support local governments and collect data about cities. This process should be carried out in a participatory manner. We must determine the role of digital transformation in ‘smart cities.’ We must prevent water losses and be able to manage waste and rainwater, among other things. We must have access to artificial intelligence and technology in order to successfully implement this initiative. For this, we must join hands and cooperate to implement our plans. At the same time, cooperation with the UN’s digital Emergency Management Center is very important. More than 200 cities are already cooperating. This cooperation is showing results in cities. In this regard, making joint efforts and cooperating are very important.”

Gunay Elshan

Anaclaudia Rossbach UN-Habitat WUF13 artificial intelligence smart cities sustainable communities urban planning digital transformation homelessness local governments water management waste management rainwater management technology New York city cooperation