A woman looking at the flooding and landslides in Panauti Muncipality of central Nepal in October 2024. Housing resilience is essential in preventing urban loss and saving lives. Credit: UNICEF/ Rabik Upadhayay

By Sanjeevani Singh and Enid Madarcos
BANGKOK, Thailand, Mar 16 2026 (IPS)

Access to adequate housing is a foundation of resilient cities. Safe and affordable homes provide stability, allow residents to access essential services, and enhance the capacity for communities to withstand and recover from shocks. Yet housing is often treated as a downstream outcome of urban development or disaster recovery rather than as a strategic investment in resilience.

The Asia and the Pacific SDG Progress Report 2026 delivers a stark warning. The region is not on track to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, and 88 per cent of measurable targets are projected to be missed by 2030 at the current pace. Progress across SDG 11 indicators reflects mixed trends. While some indicators show improvement, disaster losses and infrastructure damage continue to rise.

This widening gap between policy commitments and real-world outcomes exposes a growing resilience deficit in urban systems. Accelerating progress on SDG Target 11.1, which calls for access to adequate, safe and affordable housing and the upgrading of informal settlements, will be critical to reducing urban vulnerability across Asia and the Pacific.

Regional dialogue increasingly reflects this shift toward translating policy commitments into concrete action that reduces urban vulnerability. Discussions at the 13th Asia-Pacific Forum on Sustainable Development in 2026 and statements at the eighty-first session of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, held under the theme resilient and sustainable urban development for regional cooperation, highlighted housing affordability, informal settlements and climate-resilient housing as growing policy priorities requiring stronger action at the city level.

Across Asia and the Pacific, around 700 million people, nearly one-third of the region’s urban population, live in informal settlements – many located in hazard-prone areas exposed to flooding, extreme heat, landslides and sea-level rise.

Urban informality reflects deeper structural weaknesses in urban systems, such as gaps in land governance, planning frameworks and service delivery, concentrating climate risks in the same neighbourhoods where housing conditions are most fragile.

Urban vulnerability is shaped by the way cities are built and governed. Unplanned development, weak land-use systems and inadequate housing expose millions of urban residents to climate hazards and disaster risks. In informal settlements, these risks intensify through substandard construction, overcrowding, and limited access to water and sanitation.

Climate change further amplifies these vulnerabilities as flooding, extreme heat, water insecurity, land subsidence and air pollution interact through fragile urban systems.

Evidence also shows that improving housing conditions generates broad development gains. Habitat for Humanity’s research indicates that large-scale upgrading of informal settlements could raise GDP per capita by up to 10 per cent and increase life expectancy by four percent.

Within just one year, housing improvements could prevent more than 20 million illnesses, avert nearly 43 million incidents of gender-based violence, and avoid around 80,000 deaths. These findings highlight that expanding affordable housing and upgrading informal settlements are critical investments in climate adaptation, public health and inclusive development.

A shared but differentiated responsibility

To realign SDG trajectories and move the region closer to a resilient urban future, housing must be understood as a core component of the urban system. Achieving this requires coordinated action across governments, the private sector and civil society.

Governments: From pilot projects to systemic guarantees

Governments must anchor climate-resilient and adequate housing as a national priority, embedding secure tenure, resilient housing and informal settlement upgrading within urban development, climate adaptation and disaster risk reduction strategies. Regulatory frameworks should enable participatory and in-situ upgrading and community-led tenure solutions that allow residents to invest in climate-resilient housing improvements.

Private sector: From speculative value to resilient value

The private sector can help scale resilient housing solutions by mobilizing blended finance that combines guarantees, concessional capital and private investment. These mechanisms can support incremental home improvements, affordable rental supply and climate-resilient retrofits. Companies can also prioritize locally sourced, low-carbon materials and passive design solutions such as cool roofs, insulation and cross-ventilation suited to tropical cities.

Civil society and academia: From isolated initiatives to knowledge-powered coalitions

Civil society and academic institutions play an essential role in co-producing evidence and solutions with communities. This includes exploring nature-based approaches in informal settlements and ensuring policies reflect lived realities on the ground. They also help hold institutions accountable to SDG 11 and climate justice by tracking progress on Target 11.1 and ensuring policies and investments prioritize the most vulnerable.

Housing will shape the region’s urban resilience

The future of urban resilience in Asia and the Pacific will largely be determined in its informal neighbourhoods. If current trends continue, millions more families will be pushed into precarious and hazard-exposed housing. Aligning housing policy with climate adaptation, disaster risk reduction and inclusive urban governance therefore offers one of the most powerful pathways to accelerate SDG 11 and strengthen resilience across the region.

Sanjeevani Singh is Economic Affairs Officer, ESCAP; Enid Madarcos is Associate Director for Urban, Land and Policy, Habitat for Humanity International (Asia-Pacific)

IPS UN Bureau

Follow @IPSNewsUNBureau
  

A woman is working on her tablet while commuting to her office. ICT Connectivity in cities is essential to ensure that people can work anywhere. Credit: Pexels/ Ketut Subiyanto

By Sanjeevani Singh and Fabia Sauter
BANGKOK, Thailand, Sep 16 2024 (IPS)

When the Beijing Declaration was adopted in 1995, it called for the removal of systematic and structure barriers that prevent women and girls from enjoying their human rights across social, economic, political and environmental domains. Over the last decade, the proportion of population with access to the internet has increased from 36 per cent in in 2013 to 67 percent today.

Despite this progress, a significant digital gender gap in internet access and utilization persists. In 2023, only 54 per cent of women in Asia and the Pacific had digital access. Specifically, women in South Asia are 36 per cent less likely to use the internet than men.

Closing this digital gender gap is essential for advancing the goals of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, achieving gender equality and building inclusive and sustainable smart cities and communities.

With Asia-Pacific’s growing urban population and digital market, smart cities are an enticing development strategy many countries are adopting to leverage data, communications, technology and artificial intelligence for improved governance, enhanced service delivery and commerce.

Smart solutions are driving improved outcomes including quality of life, low-carbon growth, and environmental stewardship and sustainability. However, the digital gender gap remains a key challenge to leveraging the benefits of smart cities for all.

The disparity between men and women in terms of access to, usage of, and benefits derived from digital technologies creates significant barriers to sustainable development and inclusive growth.

This gap is influenced by various factors, including socio-cultural norms, affordability and digital literacy. Often, disparities are compounded further for women and girls with disabilities, those from underprivileged socioeconomic backgrounds, or ethnic minorities.

A young girl greeting a robot in Osaka, Japan. Digital technology has become an integral part in service industry. Credit: Unsplash/ Andy Kelly

In an increasingly digital world, women’s lack of digital literacy and access to the internet and mobile devices translates into missed opportunities for e-government, health and financial services, as well as online learning, employment and e-commerce.

For example, limited digital access can prevent women from utilizing telehealth services, accessing health information and managing their health through digital tools, accessing information about government services and social welfare programmes and participating in governance through online voting, public consultations and feedback mechanisms.

Efforts that increase women’s digital literacy and access and as well as the development of people-centred smart city policies and initiatives are needed to increase inclusion and equity. This requires collaboration with multiple stakeholders, including women themselves, to create inclusive, equitable and effective solutions that bridge the digital gap.

The benefits of closing the digital gender gap are immense. Beyond the intrinsic value of the promotion of SDG 5 (Gender Equality) for human rights, gender equality is linked to peace and prosperity and the achievement of inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable cities and communities as highlighted in SDG 11.

Improving digital access can lead to more inclusive and equitable societies, and allow women to contribute diverse perspectives, ideas, and innovations that could enrich societies worldwide. The Alliance for Affordable Internet estimates that closing the gap in 32 low-income countries could generate up to USD 524 billion in economic activity by 2025.

Empowering women digitally is not just about fairness, it is about harnessing the full potential of human talent and creativity for a more prosperous and inclusive region.

Governments, international organizations, and civil society across the region are actively addressing the root causes of the digital gender gap. In this context, smart city initiatives have the potential to drive significant progress toward gender equality by addressing the digital gender gap.

For example, Seoul has implemented various gender-inclusive smart city initiatives, including safety apps, enhanced surveillance, women-only parking spaces, digital inclusion policies, and gender equality programs. Additionally, several digital inclusion policies and gender equality programmes focus on increasing women’s literacy and supporting their economic empowerment.

UNICEF’s Digital Literacy Equity Outcomes Fund, ESCAP’s Catalyzing Women’s Entrepreneurship Programme, and the International Telecommunication Union’s ‘Girls in ICT’ days help advance girls’ and women’s education and digital literacy. Public-private partnerships, like the Thailand Safe Internet Coalition are improving internet safety. Initiatives such as the Alliance for Affordable Internet advocate for affordable and accessible digital infrastructure to foster participatory societies.

By embedding gendered perspectives and applying gender mainstreaming in the planning and implementation, they ensure that smart cities serve gender-specific needs and concerns. Moreover, addressing intersecting forms of inequality, such as those based on race, socioeconomic status, and disability, is essential to creating truly inclusive smart cities.

Improving digital literacy, gender-sensitive policies and plans, and people-centred smart cities that leverage digital technologies to bridge the gender gap are crucial for realizing the Beijing Declaration’s goals in the 21st century and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The upcoming Beijing+30 review offers an opportunity to assess progress and galvanize efforts towards achieving gender equality through digital empowerment.

Sanjeevani Singh is Economic Affairs Officer, ESCAP; Fabia Sauter is an Intern, ESCAP.

ESCAP will convene the Asia-Pacific Ministerial Conference on the Beijing+30 Review in collaboration with UN Women Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, in Bangkok, from 19-21 November 2024.

IPS UN Bureau

Follow @IPSNewsUNBureau