The Opening Ceremony consisted of both the Opening Session and the First Plenary meeting.

At the opening, world leaders and mayors warned that rapid urbanization was one of the greatest challenges facing humanity in the new Millennium. Speakers called for more backing for local authorities from the United Nations system and governments. They called for a renewed drive for decentralization. And all expressed concern that millions of people in cities around the world still lacked access to safe water and sanitation, health care, education, shelter, security of tenure.

The 2nd Plenary Meeting was organized by the Universal Forum of Cultures, where they presented the results and conclusions of the previous dialogues which were relevant to the World Urban Forum. These dialogues had taken place in Barcelona since the start of the Universal Forum of Cultures in May 2004. The World Urban Forum was the last dialogue during these four months.

The 3rd Plenary Meeting was organized by United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG) in co-operation with UN-HABITAT. During this session UN-HABITAT and UCLG signed a historic agreement that will elevate the working relationship between the United Nations system and local governments around the world to a new level. The agreement is aimed essentially at localizing the Millennium Development Goals to which world leaders committed themselves in the year 2000.

The Closing Ceremony started with the Fourth Plenary Meeting where the report of the Second World Urban Forum was adopted. Then it continued with the closing session with concluding statements from the Partner Groups, the Co-Chair, the Chair and the Executive Director of UN-HABITAT. The Head of the delegation from Canada invited all participants to come to the Third World Urban Forum that will take place in Vancouver 2006.