Rain disrupts opening of UN urban development forum in Baku - what is WUF-13 and why Azerbaijan is hosting it?
Baku’s Forum on Sustainable Cities
Heavy rain disrupted the opening ceremony of the 13th World Urban Forum (WUF-13) in Baku on 17 May, forcing participants from more than 180 countries to take shelter. Architects, urban planners and UN representatives had gathered at the city’s Olympic Stadium for the event.
The opening ceremony of the World Urban Forum in Baku, planned as an outdoor event and featuring a flag-raising ceremony, took place amid record rainfall. Azerbaijan’s National Hydrometeorological Service had warned of heavy rain in advance, later reporting that 103mm of rain fell across Baku and the Absheron Peninsula within nine hours – more than five times the historical average.
For a forum held under the slogan “Housing for Peace: Safe and Resilient Cities and Communities”, it would be hard to imagine a more symbolic start. As delegates discussed urban resilience and safety, torrential rain in the Azerbaijani capital raised an old question once again: how resilient is Baku itself?
What is WUF-13?
The World Urban Forum was established by the UN in 2001, with its first session held in Nairobi in 2002. Since then, it has become UN-Habitat’s largest and most inclusive global platform on sustainable urbanisation and urban development.
The forum aims to bring together discussions on architecture and urban planning, as well as challenges arising from the intersection of rapid urbanisation with housing, climate change, inequality, infrastructure and governance. The theme of this year’s forum reflects those concerns. According to UN estimates, around three billion people worldwide currently live in inadequate housing conditions, 1.1 billion live in informal settlements, and more than 300 million people are homeless.
The scale of the session hosted by Baku is also significant. According to official figures released on 16 May, more than 40,000 participants from 182 countries had registered for WUF-13 — one of the highest participation levels in the forum’s history.
The programme includes 40 main sessions, around 350 partner events and the largest Urban Expo in the history of the forum. As such, Baku is hosting not just another conference, but one of the key gatherings in global urban diplomacy.
The real value of platforms like this lies in their ability to shape policy agendas, build partnerships between cities and, at times, bring neglected issues — long overlooked by national governments — back into focus.
Why is Baku hosting the forum?
Baku’s selection as host also appears to have been deliberate. According to UN-Habitat, the city emerged as a finalist among eight bids and, in late 2023, secured the right to host the forum. In the official presentation, Baku was described as a place where heritage and innovation coexist, as well as an example of urban transformation.
Azerbaijan has also declared 2026 the “Year of Urban Planning and Architecture”. In a presidential decree, the White City project in Baku, the Heydar Aliyev Centre and more than 100 settlement plans in territories under Azerbaijani control are presented as examples of this strategy. On the official website of the White City project, it is likewise described as a model of social, economic and environmental sustainability.
Recent academic research has examined Azerbaijan as a state that systematically invests in hosting major international events. On the one hand, this is linked to efforts to strengthen the country’s international image and attract tourism and investment; on the other, it reflects attempts to create new sources of revenue, influence and legitimacy for a resource-based economy.
In other words, while WUF-13 is officially a forum on urban development, from a political economy perspective it can also be seen as a soft power instrument aimed at supporting resilience in a post-oil future. As the country looks beyond dependence on hydrocarbon revenues, it is seeking to turn global visibility into part of its long-term development strategy.
Between image and everyday urban reality
Baku itself, however, remains the strongest test of that narrative.
According to an official summary of a meeting chaired by President Ilham Aliyev on 12 January, the head of the state water resources agency, Zaur Mikayilov, said that water supply and sewage systems in Baku and across the Absheron Peninsula had largely been built by the late 1980s. Since then, however, the area covered by settlements has expanded by 2.6 times, while the population has grown by 2.1 times.
According to him, the operational lifespan of major pipeline networks has already expired, while the connection of stormwater drainage to sewage systems places additional pressure on infrastructure. He also said that “all rainwater systems that existed in Baku were converted into sewage collectors in the 1990s”.
Officials further reported that more than 1,600 structures were obstructing the operation of major networks and that, between 2014 and 2025, some lakes that had functioned as water retention basins were built over.
In other words, the issue is not only rainfall above historical averages. It also lies in a model of urban development that leaves little space for water.
The government’s state programme for 2026–2035 indirectly reflects these shortcomings. It includes plans to build 30 new reservoirs, develop new stormwater collectors on 30 streets, increase uninterrupted water supply coverage from 70% to 95%, and expand access to sewage services from 50% to 95%.
In that sense, WUF itself presents a certain irony. Baku is speaking to the world about resilient cities, while for many of its own residents, “resilience” is still measured by whether their shoes stay dry on a rainy day.
The real test begins after the forum
What happened does not make WUF meaningless. On the contrary, the forum could bring tangible benefits to Baku. That would require new partnerships, knowledge-sharing, investment, as well as a more serious approach to urban policy and stronger standards of accountability. Yet the real test for events like this begins only after the closing ceremony.
If polished presentations about a city do not translate into solutions to everyday problems, such forums risk creating little more than a showcase. But if events of this kind are capable of influencing how cities address their real needs, they may prove to be an important turning point for Baku’s future.
The heavy rain that hit the city on 17 May brought that question into sharp focus. The key issue is not how Baku wants to be seen by the world, but what kind of city it is capable of being for its own residents. It is here that the city’s true priorities become visible.
Baku’s Forum on Sustainable Cities
