Urbamonde is a left-of-center international non-governmental organization headquartered in Switzerland that promotes housing and urban development around the world. It mainly provides support to local groups and actors that can exercise oversight and guidance toward development projects. Urbamonde also provides access to experts in relevant fields such as engineering and construction for local projects. The group emphasizes the promotion of gender egalitarianism and climate-change activism as core motivating principles for its work. ^{1 2 3}

Founding and History

Urbamonde was founded in 2005 as Urbanists Without Frontiers with the goal of providing urban planning services in the wake of disasters. In 2008 the group decided that providing expert services was not suitable for all situations it was facing and decided to pivot toward facilitating more long-term development processes by local residents of urban areas. In 2011 the group changed its name to Urbamonde and in 2015 the group opened a French office. ⁴

Finances

In 2022, Urbamonde reported a total revenue of SFr.757,583 (about $882,000). Most of this revenue, SFr.595,386 ($693,000), was provided by the Geneva Federation for Cooperation and Development. It reported SFr.819,173 ($953,000) in expenses, of which SFr.617,104 ($718,000) was spent funding projects, with a total of SFr.650,408 ($757,000) being spent on mission-related projects and activities and SFr.126,824 ($148,000) was allocated to staff costs, with a total of SFr.168,765 ($196,000) being spent on overhead costs. The group ended the year with SFr.337,532 ($393,000) in net assets. ⁵

Programs

Urbamonde works to support a variety of local actors around the world to assist with urbanization improvements and development. The organization emphasizes local control of the process and promotes self-management by the groups and people in the respective urban areas. One aspect of support is assisting the development of alternative financial institutions that allow residents to access financing for land and housing. These include savings groups and community financing. It also promotes the collective ownership of housing projects to stymie what it views as the negative consequences of financialization and speculative investment in real estate. ⁶

The organization also facilitates local groups and actors accessing technical support for construction and development projects with an emphasis on local control and guidance of the project. Because of what the group calls “the climate emergency” it emphasizes local construction techniques and encourages the development of local economies and supply chains. ⁷

Organization Philosophy

Urbamonde is left-of-center in its philosophical outlook. It identifies climate change and “growing inequalities” as being worldwide problems and states that there exists a “right to the city” and a “right to adequate housing.” The organization also advances the value of equity (especially gender equity) and  diversity, and promotes a “collective transformation” to an egalitarian society. It also blames the “financialization” of real estate along with real estate speculation as being roadblocks to housing reform. ⁸

Leadership

Urbamonde appears to have a flat leadership structure. Staff are project managers for their respective areas of the globe, but there is not an executive director or similar staff person listed by the organization. The president of the board, Julien Woessner, is the head of the town planning department of the Swiss city of Yverdon-les-Bains. He also lists himself as an active member of Post-Capitalism Geneva. ^{9 10}

1. “About.” Urbamonde. Accessed January 21, 2024. https://www.urbamonde.org/a-propos/#equipe.
2. “2022 Annual Report.” Urbamonde. Accessed January 22, 2024. https://www.urbamonde.org/IMG/pdf/annual-report-urbamonde-22.pdf.
3. “Mission, Vision, and Actions.” Urbamonde. Accessed January 21, 2024. https://www.urbamonde.org/IMG/pdf/urbamonde-mission-values-actions.pdf.
4.  “Mission, Vision, and Actions.” Urbamonde. Accessed January 21, 2024. https://www.urbamonde.org/IMG/pdf/urbamonde-mission-values-actions.pdf.
5. “Financial Report.” Urbamonde. Accessed January 22, 2024. https://www.urbamonde.org/IMG/pdf/rapport-financier-urbamonde-suisse-22.pdf.
6. “About.” Urbamonde. Accessed January 21, 2024. https://www.urbamonde.org/a-propos/#equipe.
7. “About.” Urbamonde. Accessed January 21, 2024. https://www.urbamonde.org/a-propos/#equipe.
8. “About.” Urbamonde. Accessed January 21, 2024. https://www.urbamonde.org/a-propos/#equipe.
9. ^[1] “2022 Annual Report.” Urbamonde. Accessed January 22, 2024. https://www.urbamonde.org/IMG/pdf/annual-report-urbamonde-22.pdf.
10. “Julien Woessner.” LinkedIn.com. Accessed January 22, 2024. https://www.linkedin.com/in/julien-woessner-0b45534/.