Opinion: "Azerbaijan’s decision to interweave the global urban development agenda with its own post-conflict recovery story was deliberate and, on reflection, relevant"

Abstract

When Baku was selected to host the 13th Session of the United Nations World Urban Forum (WUF13), it was not merely a recognition of Azerbaijan’s growing organizational capacity on the world stage. It was, in many ways, a fitting venue for a conversation about post-conflict reconstruction that the country has been engaged in more urgently than almost any other in the world. Running from May 17 to 22, 2026, under the theme “Housing the World: Safe and Resilient Cities and Communities,” WUF13 attracted over 45,000 registered participants from 182 countries — making it, as President Ilham Aliyev noted at the opening, the largest international event ever held in Azerbaijan after COP29 (November 2024).