Rafael Tuts

Director of the Global Solutions Division of UN-Habitat

Raf Tuts is Director of Programmes at UN-Habitat, based in Nairobi, Kenya, where he is overseeing UN-Habitat’s overall thematic work and field operations. He joined the United Nations in 1995. Earlier assignments with UN-Habitat included his role as Coordinator of the Urban Planning and Design Branch, focusing on promoting compact, integrated and connected cities that are inclusive and resilient to climate change. He also served as Acting Coordinator of the Housing and Slum Upgrading Branch, Chief of the Training and Capacity Branch and Manager of the Localising Agenda 21 Programme, working on strategic and action planning in secondary cities in Kenya, Morocco, Vietnam and Cuba. He co-edited Urban Trialogues, reflecting on visioning, action planning and co-production of urban space as a resource for sustainable development. He coordinated the publication International Migrants and the City, co-directed Guidelines for developing eco-efficient and socially inclusive infrastructure and supervised the guidebook on Urban Patterns for a Green Economy. He led UN-Habitat’s engagement in the formulation of the Sustainable Development Goals, including the advocacy for SDG-11 on making cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable. Before joining UN-Habitat, he worked at the Department of Architecture, Urbanism and Planning at the University of Leuven and the Housing Research and Development Unit at the University of Nairobi. In 1985, he obtained a Masters of Science degree in Architectural Engineering from the University of Leuven, Belgium. In 2016, he was awarded the title of Honorary Professor at his alma mater university. He received the World Bank Vice-President Team Award in 2011 for global partnership building on Cities and Climate Change. He also received ISOCARP’s 50th Anniversary Award in 2015, in recognition of UN-Habitat’s urban planning work.

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