Financing for Cities

Co-curated with Arup

Cities worldwide are setting ambitious targets for resilience, sustainability and liveability. Yet many struggle to translate these ambitions into investable, scalable projects due to misalignment between planning frameworks, policy settings and investment realities.

This plenary addresses how cities can bridge this gap - moving beyond vision-setting to designing projects that attract sustained private capital. It explores how governments and private investors jointly shape urban outcomes, and how policy, regulation and institutional frameworks can either enable or constrain investment.

The discussion will explore the importance of embedding commercial realism into planning, including clearer risk allocation, bankable project structures, and realistic expectations of private capital. It will demonstrate how cities can unlock progress by reconfiguring institutional and regulatory settings, rather than relying solely on public funding. Through practical examples across sectors such as housing, infrastructure and asset repurposing, it will examine trade-offs between resilience, affordability and returns—and identify pathways to deliver legacy outcomes that are both impactful and investable.

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Led by World Bank Group (WBG)

Financing Resilient Cities: Lessons from the World Bank will explore practical approaches to bridging the urban infrastructure financing gap and strengthening city resilience. Drawing on World Bank expertise and global operations in East Asia, the Pacific, and South Asia, the session will highlight innovative financing solutions, climate adaptation strategies, and institutional approaches that enable cities to build resilient and sustainable urban systems. 

Featuring insights from the World Bank’s Global Director for Urban, Resilience and Land, Practice Managers, technical experts, and city representatives, the townhall-style session will combine high-level perspectives, project experiences, and audience engagement. Participants will gain actionable lessons from flagship reports, including Unlocking Subnational Financing and Banking on Cities, and from salient cases that demonstrate how governments and development partners can mobilize resources and scale resilient urban development. 

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Led by International Finance Corporation (IFC)

Cities are drivers of jobs and development in our rapidly urbanizing world. This growth will need investment in green buildings, transport, energy, waste, water, and other urban services. Over half the cost of city climate action plans must mobilize private capital, underscoring the essential role cities play in convening businesses and financial institutions to advance green and resilient infrastructure. IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, is uniquely positioned to help cities and mayors identify and enable investments in sustainable urban development. 

This session will showcase cities and corporations that have utilized IFC advisory and investment services—including APEX Cities, EDGE Buildings, and Utilities4Climate. It will offer a practical forum for knowledge sharing, technical exchange, and networking among city representatives and private sector stakeholders to advance the delivery of climate-smart infrastructure.

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Led by Urban Land Institute (ULI)

Cities are being asked to do more than ever: decarbonise, build resilience, expand housing, modernise mobility and support the rapid growth of digital infrastructure. Yet capital remains disciplined, selective and grounded in delivery. The question is not simply what cities need, but what is investable, financeable and deliverable today.

This session will bring together investors, developers, operators and policy experts to explore how capital is being allocated across the evolving urban landscape. From housing and regeneration to energy, connectivity and data centres, the discussion will examine where investment is flowing, where it is stalling, and why. Particular attention will be paid to the growing role of digital infrastructure and its competition with other urban priorities for funding, land, power, water and political attention.

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Led by CDP

Cities, home to over half the world’s population and source of more than 70% of global GHG emissions, stand as the frontline against climate change. Without bold urban action, net-zero and Paris Agreement goals remain unattainable.

CDP’s 2025 data reveals thousands of city-led projects in clean mobility, nature-based solutions, building retrofits, and resilience—yet many stall early due to limited technical assistance and finance. The core barrier: data gaps. Investors, DFIs, and MDBs require robust environmental, resilience, and governance data to assess risks and structure deals, but cities often lack clarity on specifics.

Standardised local data builds project confidence, enhances investment-readiness, aligns policies, enables blended finance, and scales impact. 

This session convenes mayors, DFIs, MDBs, UN agencies, investors, and project preparation facilities to identify essential data, transforming urban climate ideas into procurement-ready pipelines.

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