The City-Wide Approach (CWA) is a method applied at the local level which has the goal of improving the quality of housing and the residential environment. The CWA is a holistic approach whereby the local authority develops and implements a coherent, integrated programme in collaboration with all interested parties.

The Habitat Platform has chosen the CWA as a core activity for the promotion of international cooperation in the field of the habitat. The method is offered to city partnership projects in order to put international cooperation at the local level into practice.

Advice is provided and practical tools and best practices sought. Use is also made of the Citizen Participation Toolkit and the Urban Poverty Alleviation Reference Guide which are being developed in collaboration with NOVIB, VNG-International (the international branch of the Netherlands Association of Municipalities), Cordaid, SNV Netherlands Development Organisation and the Institute of Housing and Urban Development Studies (IHS). The CWA is however a method in the process of being developed, whereby lessons learned in of a number of pilots will be taken into consideration.

The CWA has its roots in the Habitat Agenda of the United Nations whose stated aim is to provide suitable housing for everyone and to work towards a sustainable residential environment. At the same time the general principles of Agenda 21 are taken into consideration. Habitat refers to the residential environment in the broadest sense and therefore makes visible the relationship between the residential environment and other aspects such as health, employment opportunity, liveability and safety. In this way Habitat is a major starting point for the CWA.