One of a series of information documents provided to the Ministers Meeting by the Secretariat of the Committee of Housing and Land Management of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe. The paper deals with the key trends and challenges in sustainable urban development in the cities of the UNECE Region. The paper is a synopsis of 'Towards a city focused, people centred and integrated approach to the New Urban Agenda, the UN-Habitat Regional Report on the UNECE, Evans et al, Geneva 2016.