World Urban Forum expecting more than 500 mayors

The seventh session of UN-Habitat's World Urban Forum is expected to draw more than 500 mayors when it meets in the Colombian city of Medellín from 5-11 April, the agency said.

Spokesperson Ana Moreno told a news conference in Bogotá on 22 January that some 80 government ministers were also expected among the estimated 10,000 participants from 150 countries.

She said that 52 percent of the global population now live in cities. The conference theme, Equity in Urban Development Law, had been chosen for the 2014 biennial event because today an estimated 8.62 billion people live in urban slums without basic services.

She was joined on the Bogotá panel in the United Nations Information Centr...