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Housing and Land Management

The UNECE Committee on Housing and Land Management and its Working Party on Land Administration have been involved in the development of policy guidelines and recommendations to address major challenges in housing, urban development, land administration and management in the region. These policy guidelines and recommendations are in the areas of housing affordability, social housing, low-cost housing and housing finance, improving building energy efficiency; facilitating the maintenance, management and refurbishment of existing housing stock; developing real estate markets; promoting integrated approached to planning and building smart sustainable cities and urban settlements, smart sustainable cities financing; as well as land registration, e-governance, land tenure, spatial information and cadastres.


Despite their non-legally binding nature, such guidelines and recommendations contribute to improved policy harmonization amongst government agencies in UNECE member States; provide guidance for establishing more efficient legal and institutional frameworks for housing, urban development, land management policy and advocate coordination of efforts to address major housing and urban development challenges in the region.


The following are the policy guidelines and recommendations approved by the Committee on Housing and Land Management and the Working Party on Land Administration:


  1. Collection Methodology for Key Performance Indicators for Smart Sustainable Cities (2017)
  2. Connecting cities and communities with the Sustainable Development Goals (2017)
  3. Enhancing innovation and participation in smart sustainable cities (September 2017)
  4. Implementing Sustainable Development Goal 11 by connecting sustainability policies and urban planning practices through ICTs (2017)
  5. CIS Cities: Towards Sustainable Future - The Commonwealth of Independent States Regional Report (2016)
  6. Formalizing the Informal: Challenges and Opportunities of Informal Settlements in South-East Europe (2015)
  7. Social Housing in the UNECE Region (2015)
  8. Geneva UN Charter on Sustainable Housing (English, French and Russian) (2015)
  9. Social Housing in the UNECE Region: Models, Trends and Challenges (2015) – in print
  10. Survey on Land Administration Systems (2014)
  11. Good Practices for Energy-Efficient Housing in the UNECE Region (2013)
  12. Challenges and Priorities in Housing and Land Management in the UNECE Region (March 2013)
  13. Green Homes: Towards Energy-Efficient Housing in the UNECE Region (2012 reprint)
  14. National Action Plan of Montenegro for Energy Efficiency Measures in the Residential Sector (March 2012)
  15. Climate Neutral Cities: How to make cities less energy and carbon intensive and more resilient to climatic challenges (2011)
  16. Study on the Challenges of Fraud to Land Administration Institutions (2011)
  17. Policy Framework for Sustainable Real Estate Markets: Principles and Guidance for the Development of a Country's Real Estate Sector (2010)
  18. Action Plan for Energy-Efficient Housing in the UNECE Region (2010)
  19. The Relationship between Population and Housing (2010)
  20. Self-Made Cities (2009)
  21. Guidance and Good Practice for the Application of Fees and Charges for Real Property Cadastre and Registration Services (2009)
  22. Spatial Planning – Key Instrument for Development and Effective Governance with Special Reference to Countries in Transition (2008)
  23. Guidelines on Social Housing: Principles and Examples (2006)
  24. Housing Finance Systems for Countries in Transition: Principles and Examples (2005)
  25. Land Administration in the UNECE Region: Development Trends and Main Principles (2005)
  26. Guiding Principles for Public-Private Partnerships in Land Administration (July 2005)
  27. Social and Economic Benefits of Good Land Administration, 2nd edition (January 2005)
  28. ECE Guidelines on Real Property Units and Identifiers (2004)
  29. Restrictions on Ownership, Leasing, Transfer and Financing of Land and Real Properties in Europe and North America (2003)
  30. Guidelines on Condominium Ownership of Housing for Countries in Transition (2003)
  31. Land (Real Estate) Mass Valuation Systems for Taxation Purposes in Europe (2001)


Website: www.unece.org/housing

As of 1 December 2017