Housing forum in Riyadh sets out tools to scale affordable, low-carbon homes
- Editorial Team SDG11
- 6 hours ago
- 4 min read
The Housing and Sustainable Urban Development Forum (HSUDF), held in Riyadh on 11 to 12 February 2026, convened ministries, private real estate developers, NGOs and international experts to discuss responses to a worsening global housing crisis. The event was presented as a delivery-focused platform, with speakers and organisers linking housing supply, environmental performance and community wellbeing as interdependent priorities.
HSUDF’s programme was framed around sustainable urban development, with its stated purpose tied to SDG 11 within the sustainable development goals. The source material describes a forum focused on practical levers, including faster construction methods, evolving green regulations and digital tools for managing cities and neighbourhoods.
Affordable housing and modern methods of construction
A central theme of the 2026 edition was the drive to accelerate large-scale residential delivery through Modern Methods of Construction (MMC) and modular techniques. The forum highlighted these approaches as a route to delivering housing at speed and at scale, while maintaining a sustainability lens.
In the material provided, MMC and modular techniques are presented primarily as delivery enablers rather than ends in themselves. The forum’s emphasis suggests an attempt to bring construction innovation into mainstream housing pipelines, rather than leaving it confined to pilots and one-off demonstrations.
Organisers also stressed the affordability challenge directly. In a summary of the discussions, the forum said it explored “how digital innovation and new construction methods are reshaping urban housing while addressing the critical challenge of affordability”.
Green building standards and low-carbon construction
Updates on green building standards were presented as another major pillar, with attention given to ecological construction regulations and eco-responsible design intended to reduce urban carbon footprints. The source material indicates that these discussions focused on the built environment’s role in emissions and the need for standards that shape design and delivery choices.
Private sector participation was positioned as an important part of this shift. Firms including Cundall moderated discussions on green urban innovation, integration of ESG criteria and low-carbon construction approaches. The material does not specify which standards were updated or how compliance will be measured and enforced, but it presents regulation and design guidance as key tools for steering the sector.
Government representatives provided updates on regulatory requirements and new projects aligned with Vision 2030. Details of specific projects, budgets, or implementation schedules were not included in the source text.
PropTech and smart cities as housing infrastructure
HSUDF also highlighted PropTech and smart city approaches, describing digital technologies as tools to enhance infrastructure management and improve quality of life. In the forum’s framing, digital systems support both delivery and operations, from better coordination across projects to more responsive services in completed communities.
The material suggests a view of PropTech as infrastructure for housing systems, not simply a collection of consumer apps. That framing brings policy questions into view, including how data is governed, how systems interoperate across public and private actors, and how communities are protected when critical services depend on digital platforms. These issues are implied by the forum’s focus, but the source text does not describe specific governance proposals.
NGOs and intergovernmental organisations participated in panels on community development and livability standards, signalling that the conversation extended beyond engineering and finance into social outcomes.
Research priorities for sustainable urban development
HSUDF’s chosen themes point to a research agenda that is both practical and unresolved, even where solutions are already being trialled.
One priority is evidence on whether MMC and modular delivery reduces overall housing costs in typical market conditions, not just in controlled demonstrations. The source text highlights MMC and modular techniques as ways to accelerate delivery, but it does not provide data on cost outcomes, affordability impacts, or the conditions under which savings reach residents rather than being absorbed elsewhere in the supply chain.
A second research need lies in how green building standards translate into real performance once homes are occupied. The forum presented updated ecological regulations and eco-responsible design, yet the material does not explain which metrics are prioritised, how trade-offs are handled, or how design intent is protected through procurement, construction quality control and long-term maintenance.
A third research area concerns PropTech and smart cities as public-interest systems. The forum linked digital tools to infrastructure management and quality of life, which implies a need for research on governance frameworks, interoperability standards, procurement models and accountability. Where digital platforms become embedded in housing allocation, building management or community services, questions of access, transparency and resilience become part of the housing conversation, not separate technology policy.
Finally, the forum’s inclusion of NGOs and livability panels implies research demand on social sustainability: what makes new housing developments genuinely liveable, how community outcomes change over time, and which design and governance decisions protect equity as projects scale.
These research needs sit alongside implementation gaps. Even where solutions exist, the material suggests that scaling depends on aligning regulation, industry capacity and long-term operating models, not simply adopting new tools.
Link to World Urban Forum 13 in Baku
HSUDF was described as a technical prelude to the 13th session of the World Urban Forum (WUF13), scheduled for May 2026 in Baku. The forum was linked to UN-Habitat’s Strategic Plan 2026 to 2029, which the source material says prioritises adequate housing as a fundamental human right, and ties housing access to efforts to address poverty and climate change.
What happens next, on the forum’s own terms, is a shift from convening to coordination. The Riyadh agenda points towards a shared set of delivery levers, MMC and modular techniques, evolving green standards, and PropTech-enabled urban management. The immediate question is how these levers are translated into consistent project pipelines, regulatory clarity and measurable affordability outcomes as attention moves towards WUF13.
Further reading
· World Urban Forum 13 (WUF13) official page (UN-Habitat) (WUF)
· UN-Habitat event listing for WUF13, including dates and location (unhabitat.org)
· SDG 11 overview and targets (UN DESA) (sdgs.un.org)
· Global Smart City Partnership Program overview (World Bank) (worldbank.org)