Cities are where the future is unfolding — and they need money to match their moment. That was the message from Anacláudia Rossbach, executive director of UN-Habitat, during a lively discussion at Casa Devex, on the sidelines of the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development.
“More and more of what's happening in our planet is going to be happening in cities,” Rossbach said. With over half the world already living in urban areas — and that figure is expected to hit 70% by 2050 — she warned that without serious investment in urban infrastructure, all the talk about private capital and de-risking won’t amount to much.
At the top of her list: the global housing crisis. “We cannot achieve the SDGs in housing if people don't have shelter, a roof over their heads,” she said, pointing to 1 billion people living in informal settlements and 300 million experiencing homelessness. She called housing the “common denominator” in both the global north and south.
About the author
Helen Murphy
Helen is an award-winning journalist and Senior Editor at Devex, where she edits coverage on global development in the Americas. Based in Colombia, she previously covered war, politics, financial markets, and general news for Reuters, where she headed the bureau, and for Bloomberg in Colombia and Argentina, where she witnessed the financial meltdown. She started her career in London as a reporter for Euromoney Publications before moving to Hong Kong to work for a daily newspaper.
