Resilient housing in a changing risk landscape – A Geneva roundtable for International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction 2026

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Rising housing costs and shrinking supply are quietly pushing more families into the path of floods, heatwaves and storms, a reality already playing out in cities around the world. As climate change, disaster risk, infrastructure stress and housing insecurity intensify, the housing agenda needs to move beyond the individual housing unit to address the resilience of the broader housing ecosystem: land-use planning, infrastructure networks, service delivery, governance, financing and community capacities. 

Co-organized by UNDRR, UN-Habitat, UNDP, UNECE and Global Cities Hub, this roundtable brings together mayors, urban planners, policymakers, financial institutions, and resilience experts to examine how housing affordability, availability and changing risk landscapes shape vulnerability in cities, and how housing resilience can strengthen broader urban resilience outcomes. The discussion will identify actionable pathways for embedding resilience into housing systems, urban planning and investment decisions – bridging policy and practice across formal and informal settlements.