No Good Housing Without Good Transportation: Urban Mobility and the Housing Crisis (WUF13 Networking Event)
About the event:
The World Urban Forum (WUF13) is the premier global conference on sustainable urbanization, convened by UN-Habitat. The 2026 edition, taking place under the theme “Housing the World: Safe and Resilient Cities and Communities”, will be held in Baku, Azerbaijan from 17–22 May 2026. This year’s Forum will place a strong focus on the global housing crisis and the role of housing as a driver of inclusive, resilient, and sustainable urban development.
Within this global context, the Clean Mobility Collective (CMC) and its partners will host a networking event exploring one of the most pressing but often overlooked dimensions of the housing crisis: its deep interconnection with urban mobility.
About the session: No good housing without good transportation: Approaching the connection between urban mobility and the housing crisis
May 20, 2026 | 14:00 – 15:30
Multipurpose Room 15
Language: English
Facilitated by Andrés Linares (CMC Latin America Coordinator)
Organized by Instituto Pólis (CMC partner in Brazil)
The Clean Mobility Collective is a global network of over 100 civil society organizations working to advance healthy, safe, and fossil-fuel-free cities. This Global South–focused networking session will bring together practitioners, policymakers, and researchers to explore how cities are addressing the critical link between urban mobility and housing affordability.
After decades of urban development shaped by housing expansion and private vehicle dependency, many cities are now seeking to better integrate housing and mobility policies. The lack of coordination between these sectors has contributed to rising costs, spatial inequality, and reduced access to essential services, disproportionately affecting women and low-income communities.
Aligned with SDGs 5, 10, and 11 and the New Urban Agenda, the session will highlight integrated approaches that reduce daily living costs, expand access to opportunity, and improve quality of life in rapidly urbanizing contexts. These include transit-oriented mixed-use development, innovative financing mechanisms, zero-fare or subsidized public transport, and gender-responsive safety measures.
The discussion will be participatory and practice-oriented, fostering peer learning, exchange of experiences, and partnership building across regions. It will also emphasize the role of care work, everyday mobility patterns, and safety in shaping inclusive and equitable cities.
Partners: This session is organized in collaboration with:
Polis Institute (Brazil)
Clean Mobility Collective (United States of America)
Sustainable Mobility Network (India)
Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities (Philippines)
Panelists: For full details on panelists and updates, visit the WUF13 session page.
About the organiser:
Instituto Pólis (Brazil) is a non-profit civil society organization that has been working since 1987 to promote and defend the Right to the City. With 38 years of experience, it brings together multidisciplinary teams of researchers who also actively participate in public debates on urban social issues.
We work toward building fairer, more democratic, sustainable, and inclusive cities based on three interconnected pillars: Territorial Justice, Socio-environmental and Climate Justice, and Racial, Gender, and LGBTQIA+ Justice.
Our strategies include the production of technical studies, evidence-based policy advocacy, training of social and governmental actors, implementation of solutions, strengthening of civil society networks, as well as communication and public engagement.
