UNESCO will host "The Future of Urban Water Solutions for Livable and Resilient Cities" on 24-26 January 2011 in Paris. The aim of this conference is to share knowledge on recent advances in urban water management, and to catalyse change towards more livable and resilient cities – The "City of the Future".

Increasing global change pressures, escalating costs and other risks inherent to conventional urban water management are causing cities to face ever increasing difficulties in efficiently managing scarcer and less reliable water resources. In order to meet these challenges there is a need for a paradigm shift in water management.

Over the past 5 years major international initiatives such as the SWITCH project, UNESCO IHP's Urban Water Programme and IWA's Cities of the Future Programme, have brought together a global consortium from the fields of academic, urban planning, water utility and consulting interests.

Themes of the conference will include:

* Decision Support Tools
* Natural Systems for Treatment
* Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems
* Water Resource Recovery and Reuse