This was the inaugural Kenya Urban Forum hosted by the State Department of Housing and Urban Development (SDHUD) with the theme of “The Future is Urban-Strategic Pathways to Inclusive and Sustainable Urbanization in Kenya” from 14th to 16th June 2023 in Naivasha Municipality, Nakuru County. It was held in collaboration with the World Bank, United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat), National Land Commission, Council of Governors of Kenya (CoG) and the Kenya Institute of Planners (KIP).

It addressed; Urban Housing, Urban Finance, Urban Economy and Poverty, Urban Governance and Management, Urban Planning and Management, Urban Infrastructure and Services, Urban Resilience, Climate Change and Environment, and Land Question. This forum was a testament to Kenya’s commitment to sustainable urbanization, bridging global discourse with national and county-level implementation. The outcomes of the Forum were thirteen (13) resolutions:

1. The National and County Governments in partnership with urban sector stakeholders shall review and harmonize the urban sector Legislation including; County Government Act 2012, Physical and Land Use Planning Act 2019, Urban Areas and Cities Act 2011 (amended in 2019) to guide urban planning and development.
2. The National Government in collaboration with the County Governments, and other urban sector stakeholders shall review the Sessional Paper No.1 of 2016 on the National Urban Development Policy to align to existing urbanization dynamics and realities.
3. The National Government in collaboration with the Council of Governors shall create a framework to establish, and operationalize the National Urban Development Fund as provided for in the National Urban Development Policy
4. The County Governments with the support of National Government and urban sector stakeholders shall establish mechanisms to leverage own-source revenue potentials as identified in the study by the Commission on Revenue Allocation including adoption of innovative funding mechanisms such as Land Value Capture.
5. The National and County governments shall strengthen and expand cooperation and multilevel climate action in order to enhance inclusion of local-level contributions in new and updated nationally determined contributions and support the implementation of nationally determined contributions at the local level.
6. The National Government shall establish an Urban Sector Working Group, comprising of urban sector stakeholders, and convened by the State Department for Housing and Urban Development (Urban Development Department) to support the process of attaining Inclusive and Sustainable Urbanization in Kenya.
7. The National and County Governments shall collaborate in the provision of adequate housing for all including by integrating urban social rental housing into the Affordable Housing Program (AHP).
8. County Governments shall develop county legislations envisaged in section 173 of the Public Finance Management Act 2012 to guide allocation of funds to cities and urban areas.
9. The County Governments shall prepare Integrated Urban Development Plans for all the cities and urban areas as a basis for allocating budget and guiding implementation of the County Integrated Development Plan.
10. County Governments shall establish urban institutions including city and municipality boards, town and market centre committees that are well-resourced with requisite human and financial capacities to effectively perform their mandate in line with Urban Areas and Cities Act 2011 (amended in 2019) and their respective charters.
11. County Governments shall prepare the necessary development control tools and ensure strict compliance and enforcement to the same to achieve planned urbanization.
12. There shall be a harmonized approach to urban land management with more emphasis on accessibility to land as opposed to land ownership. All public land shall be inventorized, planned, surveyed and titled for land banking to support public purpose developments and investments.
13. National and County Governments together with urban sector stakeholders shall develop a roadmap towards Kenya’s participation in the 12th World Urban Forum in Egypt.