Cities will play a major role in realising the international community's climate and development goals. Already, they are home to half the world's population. By 2050, two thirds of the world's population will be living in cities. Yet cities are responsible for 75 per cent of all CO2 emissions. And the process of urbanisation is continuing apace, particularly in developing countries and emerging economies. By 2030, over 3.9 billion people in those countries will be living in cities and some 60 per cent of them will be below the age of 18.

That is why the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and the federal state of Berlin hosted the German Habitat Forum in Berlin on 1 and 2 June 2016 as an opportunity to debate sustainable solutions to urban challenges.

On the first day of the conference, we focused on "People, Politics and Practice". We examined strategies that have already proven successful and specific ways of promoting sustainable urban development. On the second day, we dealt with visions and strategies for making the city of the future liveable. 

The key questions posed at the conference were:

• How can we make use of the opportunities offered by urbanisation?
• How can we make our cities liveable?
• How can urban development take equal account of people and the environment?
• How can cities contribute to development and to climate change mitigation and adaptation?
• What basic framework do municipalities need in order to pursue sustainable development?

The forum offered an opportunity for pioneering thinkers and interesting figures from across the world, representing the spheres of politics, business, research and science, civil cities and municipal authorities, to enter into a dialogue with each other. At the same time, it aimed to deliver input for the third global United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Development, Habitat III, taking place from 17 to 20 October 2016 in the Ecuadorian capital, Quito.

The German Habitat Forum was staged in cooperation with a number of partners and several other German ministries. At the heart of the Forum was the 13 interactive workshops which took a practical look at key issues of sustainable urban development. Each workshop was staged and hosted by two leading institutions or organisations in the field concerned. These included NGOs, thinktanks and UN organisations.