Barcelona, Spain, October 16th / PRNewswire / -- The HOWS Barcelona ( Housing World Summit, Housing World Summit) is a new international conference focusing on urban housing and affordable housing. It is organized by the Barcelona City Council and promoted by Fira de Barcelona. The event will take place from November 3rd to 5th at the Gran Via venue and will be held concurrently with Smart City Expo World Congress.

As the summit convenes, housing has become one of the key challenges faced by cities around the world. According to data from the United Nations Human Settlements Programme, more than 300 million people worldwide have no shelter, and another 3 billion live in conditions that are inadequate.

UN-Habitat Executive Director Anaklia Rosbach will be one of the important keynote speakers at HOWS Barcelona. Rosbach has over 20 years of experience in housing and urban policy, with a particular focus on informal settlements and social housing. She will attend alongside Anne Hidalgo, the first female mayor of Paris and the Global Ambassador for the Mayors' Climate and Energy Pact. Hidalgo has been advocating for an agenda that includes affordable and sustainable housing; in addition, there will also be Anna Minton from East London University, who is a lecturer in architecture and the author of Big Capital: Who Is London For?, whose research focuses on the financialization of land, property, and housing. The summit will also invite Sindicat de Llogateres spokesperson Carme Alcalazó, as well as Jordi Gavés, President of the Catalan Federation of Housing Cooperatives.

Barcelona Mayor Jaume Collboni will chair the “Mayors’ Roundtable on Housing,” to discuss housing rights and policies being implemented around the world. Milan Mayor Giuseppe Sala, Budapest Mayor Gergely Karácsony, Athens Mayor Harris Koukouzas, and Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens will also participate, along with EEA Council of Housing Advisors Chairperson Eamon Ryan. The event will also feature a “Mayors’ Meeting on Housing,” which is a closed-door working session bringing together mayors and senior housing officials from international cities.

Five Pillars to Address Common Challenges

The conference agenda revolves around five core themes: urban planning and land policy, housing regulation, social and affordable housing, architectural innovation, as well as renovation, adaptation, and reuse. Over the course of three days, discussions will cover land supply, the regulation of rental markets affected by tourism and speculative pressures, cooperative housing models, new financing schemes, industrialized construction, and the restoration of existing housing stock, with the aim of finding practical pathways to build cities with more accessible housing.