The term Habitat I refers to the first United Nations Conference on Human Settlements, in Vancouver, British Columbia in Canada, 31 May – 11 June 1976, which was convened by the United Nations as governments began to recognize the magnitude and consequences of rapid urbanization. On 16 December 1976 the General Assembly adopted resolution 31/109. It took note of the conference report, the Vancouver Declaration on Human Settlements, which carried an action plan with 64 recommendations for National Action. As a further outcome of the conference, in 1977 a General Assembly resolution 36/162 established the United Nations Centre for Human Settlements – UNCHS (Habitat). It designated the Commission on Human Settlements, a functional commission of the Economic and Social Council (

ECOSOC The United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC; french: links=no, Conseil économique et social des Nations unies, ) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations, responsible for coordinating the economic and social fields ...

), as the governing body.

Habitat II Habitat II, the Second United Nations Conference on Human Settlements was held in Istanbul, Turkey from June 3–14, 1996, twenty years after Habitat I held in Vancouver in 1976. Popularly called the "City Summit", it brought together high-level ...

met in Istanbul, Turkey, 3–14 June 1996.

Habitat III Habitat III, the United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development, took place in Quito, Ecuador, from 17 – 20 October 2016. The UN Conferences on Housing (Habitat) are occurring in the bi-decennial cycle (1976, 1996 and 201 ...

met in Quito, Ecuador, from 17–20 October 2016.

The Vancouver Declaration

The Vancouver Declaration starts with a preamble stating that "unacceptable human settlements circumstances are likely to be aggravated by inequitable economic growth and uncontrolled urbanization, unless positive and concrete action is taken at national and international levels". The first action is "to adopt bold, meaningful and effective human settlement policies and spatial planning strategies (...) considering human settlements as an instrument and object of development". Among the general Principles, the Conference advocated improving the quality of life through more equitable distribution of development benefits, planning and regulating land use, protecting the environment, integrating women and youth, and rehabilitating people displaced by natural and man-made catastrophes. In the Guidelines for action, various elements of a human settlements policy are defined. Focus is placed on harmonious integration, reduction of disparities between rural and urban areas, orderly urbanization, progressive minimum standards and community participation. The Declaration states that "adequate shelter and services are a basic human right" and that "governments should assist local authorities to participate to a greater extent in national development". The Declaration strongly emphasizes that "the use and tenure of land should be subject to public control".

The Vancouver Action Plan

The substantive outcomes of the first Habitat Conference are a series of 64 recommendations for National Action and a 44-page "Action Plan". These recommendations are organized in six sections. Section A (Settlements policies and strategies), Section B (Settlement Planning), Section C (Shelter, infrastructure and services), Section D (Land) and Section E (Public Participation). ''(See more at the UN-Habitat Feature/Backgrounder prepared by UN-Habitat in 2006'').

Participants

* Lauchlin Currie *

Margaret Mead Margaret Mead (December 16, 1901 – November 15, 1978) was an American cultural anthropologist who featured frequently as an author and speaker in the mass media during the 1960s and the 1970s. She earned her bachelor's degree at Barnard C ...

Paolo Soleri Paolo Soleri (21 June 1919 – 9 April 2013) was an Italian-born American architect. He established the educational Cosanti Foundation and Arcosanti. Soleri was a lecturer in the College of Architecture at Arizona State University and a National ...

Buckminster Fuller Richard Buckminster Fuller (; July 12, 1895 – July 1, 1983) was an American architect, systems theorist, writer, designer, inventor, philosopher, and futurist. He styled his name as R. Buckminster Fuller in his writings, publishing mo ...

Summary and Observations on Proceedings of Habitat, U.N. Conference on Human Settlements, Vancouver, 1976. *

Mother Teresa Mary Teresa Bojaxhiu, MC (; 26 August 1910 – 5 September 1997), better known as Mother Teresa ( sq, Nënë Tereza), was an Indian-Albanian Catholic nun who, in 1950, founded the Missionaries of Charity. Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu () was ...

Barbara Ward, Baroness Jackson of Lodsworth Barbara Mary Ward, Baroness Jackson of Lodsworth, (23 May 1914 – 31 May 1981) was a British economist and writer interested in the problems of developing countries. She urged Western governments to share their prosperity with the rest of th ...

* Pierre Trudeau

References

External links

UN-HABITAT The United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) is the United Nations programme for human settlements and sustainable urban development. It was established in 1977 as an outcome of the first United Nations Conference on Human Settleme ...

World Urban Forum The World Urban Forum (WUF) is the world’s premier conference on urban issues. It was established in 2001 by the United Nations to examine one of the most pressing issues facing the world today: rapid urbanisation and its impact on communities, ...

Habitat Conferences Digital Archive
{{DEFAULTSORT:Habitat I 1976 conferences 1976 in the environment Environmental conferences United Nations conferences Human settlement Urban development United Nations Human Settlements Programme Canada and the United Nations

The Vancouver Declaration

The Vancouver Action Plan

Participants

See also

References

External links