UN-Habitat supports countries to develop urban planning methods and systems to address current urbanization challenges such as population growth, urban sprawl, poverty, inequality, pollution, congestion, as well as urban biodiversity, urban mobility, and energy. In recent decades, the landscape of cities has changed significantly because of rapid urban population growth. A major feature of fast-growing cities is urban sprawl, which drives the occupation of large areas of land and is usually accompanied by many serious problems including inefficient land use, high car dependency, low density and high segregation of uses. Coupled with land use speculation, current models of city growth result in fragmented and inefficient urban spaces where urban advantage and city concept are lost.

Cities of the future should build a different type of urban structure and space, where city life thrives and the most common problems of current urbanization are addressed. UN-Habitat proposes an approach that summarizes and refines existing sustainable urban planning theories to help build a new and sustainable relationship between urban dwellers and urban space and to increase the value of urban land. This approach is based on 5 principles that support the 3 key features of sustainable neighborhoods and cities: compact, integrated, and connected. the five principles Are:1. Adequate space for streets and an efficient street network. The street network should occupy at least 30 percent of the land and at least 18 km of street length per km².2. high density. At least 15,000 people per km², that is 150 people/ha or 61 people/acre.3. Mixed land-use. At least 40 percent of floor space should be allocated for economic use in any neighbourhood.4. social mix. The availability of houses in different price ranges and tenures in any given neighborhood to accommodate different incomes; 20 to 50 percent of the residential floor area should be for low-cost housing, and each tenure type should be not more than 50 percent of the total.5. limited land-use specialization. This is to limit single function blocks or neighborhoods; single function blocks should cover less than 10 percent of any neighborhood.