At the 24 June 2026 Commonwealth Association of Planners (CAP) Assembly meeting, we were pleased to host Vincent Goodstadt on behalf of the Habitat Professionals Forum (HPF), RTPI and ECTP-CEU about the growing need to rethink disaster recovery through more integrated, participatory and systems-based approaches.

At WUF, The Habitat Professionals Forum released the Recovering the Future: A Framework for Transformative Recovery from Disaster.

The release recognizes that natural and human-made disasters are becoming increasingly frequent, interconnected and unpredictable — shaped by a wider “polycrisis” that includes climate change, conflict, biodiversity loss, technological disruption, demographic pressures and inequality.

In 2023 alone:

• Approximately 400 disasters affected more than 100 million people globally

• Annual infrastructure losses exceeded $700 billion

• More than 120 million people were displaced by conflict, with one-third classified as refugees.

The framework builds upon the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction and reinforces a critical shift already underway internationally: moving beyond short-term emergency response toward long-term resilience and transformative recovery.

Importantly, the paper argues that disaster risk reduction is not simply an emergency management issue — it is fundamentally connected to broader systems of governance, housing, land tenure, law, infrastructure, social equity, planning, ecology and culture.

Recovery cannot simply rebuild what existed before.

Instead, recovery processes should:

• Guarantee and protect human rights

• Strengthen resilience and reduce future vulnerabilities

• Integrate nature-based approaches

• Respect local landscape, culture and identity

• Support participatory and community-led decision making

• Connect recovery to affordable housing, secure land tenure and long-term planning systems.

The framework also reinforces the importance of integrated approaches aligned with SDG 11, the New Urban Agenda and broader Habitat Professionals Forum initiatives including the Roadmap to Recovery, the International Participatory Charter and proposed International Landscape Convention.

One particularly important insight is the recognition that implementation and outcomes matter more than simply counting outputs. Participatory recovery should ultimately be measured by whether communities emerge safer, more equitable, more resilient and better connected socially, economically and environmentally.

These discussions strongly resonated throughout WUF13 and align closely with many of the themes reflected in the Baku Call to Action, including integrated planning, climate resilience, housing systems, multilevel governance and professional capacity development.

For CAP, these conversations reinforce the important role planners and allied professionals can play in advancing integrated, rights-based and locally grounded approaches to recovery and resilience across the Commonwealth and globally.

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