Special Session - Rethinking Cultural Heritage…

Can heritage unlock inclusive, climate-responsive urban transformation?

This Special Session will explore how cultural heritage and inclusive urban regeneration can help address housing challenges through the rehabilitation of historic neighborhoods and settlements. Bringing together UN agencies, development partners, governments, and local actors, the session will examine how heritage-led regeneration can improve living conditions, safeguard affordability, strengthen resilience, and support more inclusive urban futures. Through an immersive opening, a high-level moderated dialogue, and an interactive closing, participants will engage with practical experiences, financing approaches, and partnership models that connect heritage preservation, housing improvement, sustainable tourism, and community participation. The discussion will highlight people-centered approaches that reduce inequalities, protect local identity, and demonstrate how regenerating historic areas can contribute to more adequate, safe, and resilient places to live.

Guiding questions

1. How can inclusive urban regeneration serve as a lever for social cohesion, economic revitalization, and climate resilience in historic neighborhoods?
2. How can mandates, resources, and financing be aligned to scale up heritage-led regeneration?
3. How can heritage-led urban regeneration improve housing conditions, affordability, and inclusion in historic neighborhoods while preserving identity?

Expected outcomes

The session is expected to strengthen understanding of how cultural heritage can serve as an entry point for addressing housing challenges within broader urban regeneration efforts. It will highlight replicable practices, financing approaches, and partnership models that support the rehabilitation of historic areas while improving adequacy, affordability, resilience, and community ownership. It will further generate key messages for policymakers and practitioners on linking heritage preservation with housing improvement, climate action, and local economic development, while reinforcing collaboration among UN entities, governments, donors, and local actors working on inclusive urban regeneration.

The session aims to demonstrate how heritage-led regeneration can contribute to improving living conditions, supporting affordability, and revitalizing historic neighborhoods without displacing communities overall, contributing to better housing outcomes. It will showcase policy, financing, and partnership models that connect heritage, housing, tourism, and climate action; foster dialogue among UN agencies, international organizations, governments, donors, and local actors; and generate actionable messages on scaling up inclusive, people-centered regeneration in historic urban areas.

Moderator: Nazanine Moshiri