World Metropolitan Day 2026
Rethinking housing through metropolitan governance, so millions can call their metropolis home.
This year's topic, "Housing in the Metropolis" puts location, land and governance at the centre of the debate on housing in metropolitan areas.
Metropolitan governance enables governments to connect housing policy with land, transport, infrastructure, and finance systems, ensuring that affordable housing is developed in locations where people can access jobs, services and opportunities. The stronger the metropolitan governance arrangement, the greater the potential to deliver housing solutions at the scale that today's urbanisation challenges demand.
Participate in World Metropolitan Day 2026
Make the agenda
Cities, subnational governments, think tanks, universities and civil society are invited to organize an activity, on or around 14 October, to celebrate World Metropolitan Day. The activity should bring their own experiences and challenges into this conversation, in whatever format suits the organizers: a public debate, a site visit, an exhibition. The activities that are approved by Metropolis and UN Habitat will enter the global calendar of the World Metropolitan Day.
The theme is intentionally open: organisers are free to organize activities on any aspect of metropolitan housing. The following questions, drawn from Metropolis' work on housing and resilience, can be built on:
Designing homes with the people who will live in them: How are metropolises involving residents in designing their own housing, and their own neighbourhoods?
Multilevel governance: How can metropolitan governance arrangements enable more effective coordination of housing, land use, transport, and infrastructure across municipal boundaries?
Housing needs more than a roof: What would it take to connect new housing to transport, schools, and healthcare from day one?
Planning and land use: How can metropolises plan and use land to provide housing while building resilience, cohesion, fairness and opportunity?
Funding affordable housing: What financing and fiscal mechanisms are available to metropolitan authorities to fund affordable housing at scale?
Join the conversation online: Housing in the Metropolis session
14 October 2026 · 15:00 CEST · Online · 60 minutes · English
To mark World Metropolitan Day, Metropolis, UN-Habitat and the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona (AMB) are bringing together metropolitan governments for an online conversation on how housing policy can better connect people to opportunity.
Housing affordability is about more than the price of a home. Where housing is located affects access to transport, jobs, schools, healthcare and other essential services. Addressing these connections requires coordination that goes beyond individual municipal boundaries.
Through metropolitan case studies and discussion, the webinar will explore:
why location matters alongside affordability;
how metropolitan governance can support better housing outcomes;
what effective design and coordination look like in practice; and
how cities and regions can bring a metropolitan perspective to housing policy.
The session will include practical experiences from São Paulo and the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona, with further speakers to be announced, followed by an open discussion and audience Q&A.