Cities in Asia and the Pacific represent a wide spectrum of global urbanization trajectories and typologies. However, over the next 15 years of the Sustainable Development Goals, Asia and the Pacific are projected to account for nearly 60 percent of the world's urban growth, adding 0.7 billion people to the region's cities and towns, with a similar increase projected by the middle of this century. As stated by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, "cities are where the climate battle will largely be won or lost," and "cities are central to virtually every challenge we face – and essential to building a more inclusive, sustainable and resilient future." Therefore, it is in Asia and the Pacific that solutions to these concurrent and interconnected global crises must be forged, implemented and scaled.

Held every four to five years, the Forum is the largest regional gathering of urban stakeholders, engaging policymakers from local and national governments, financial institutions, civil society, the academia, the urban training-research community and private sector to discuss innovative solutions, identify common actions and objectives and strengthen effective partnerships to achieve sustainable urban development.

The seventh Asia-Pacific Urban Forum was held in October 2019 in Penang, Malaysia, and brought together more than 5,000 participants from across the region and world to focus on the acceleration and implementation of SDG 11.