Habitat III, the United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development, took place in
Quito,
Ecuador
Ecuador ( ; ; Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechua: ''Ikwadur Ripuwlika''; Shuar: ' ...
, from 17 – 20 October 2016.
The UN Conferences on Housing (Habitat) are occurring in the bi-decennial cycle (1976, 1996 and 2016). The
United Nations General Assembly
The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA or GA; french: link=no, Assemblée générale, AG) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN), serving as the main deliberative, policymaking, and representative organ of the UN. Curr ...
decided to convene The Habitat III Conference in its resolution 66/207. The Habitat III Conference reinvigorates the global commitment to sustainable
urbanization
Urbanization (or urbanisation) refers to the population shift from rural to urban areas, the corresponding decrease in the proportion of people living in rural areas, and the ways in which societies adapt to this change. It is predominantly t ...
, to focus on the implementation of a “New Urban Agenda”.
Habitat III was one of the first United Nations global summits after the adoption of the
Post-2015 Development Agenda
The Post-2015 Development Agenda was a process from 2012 to 2015 led by the United Nations to define the future global development framework that would succeed the Millennium Development Goals. The new framework, starting from 2016 is called Sustai ...
. It gave the opportunity to open discussions on important urban challenges and questions, such as how to plan and manage
cities
A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...
,
town
A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world.
Origin and use
The word "town" shares an ori ...
s and
village
A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred ...
s for
sustainable development. The discussion of these questions shapes the implementation of new global development and
climate change
In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to ...
goals. In particular, the conference elaborates on Goal #11 of the
Sustainable Development Goals: "Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable."
[Wolfgang Amann & Sandra Jurasszovich, "Habitat III — a critical review of the New Urban Agenda"; ''Housing Finance International'', Spring 2017.]
Background
Habitat I
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 c ...
was the first United Nations Conference on Human Settlements, held in
Vancouver, British Columbia
Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the city, up from 631,486 in 2016. The ...
,
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
, May 31 - June 11, 1976, governments began to recognize the need for
sustainable human settlements
In geography, statistics and archaeology, a settlement, locality or populated place is a community in which people live. The complexity of a settlement can range from a minuscule number of dwellings grouped together to the largest of cities ...
and the consequences of rapid
urbanization
Urbanization (or urbanisation) refers to the population shift from rural to urban areas, the corresponding decrease in the proportion of people living in rural areas, and the ways in which societies adapt to this change. It is predominantly t ...
, especially in the developing world. The conference outcomes were integrated into the Vancouver Declaration on Human Settlements, which carried an action plan with 64 recommendations for National Action. The Conference also established the United Nations Centre for Human Settlements - UNCHS (Habitat).
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 ...
, the Second United Nations Conference on Human Settlements, was held in
Istanbul
)
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code = 34000 to 34990
, area_code = +90 212 (European side) +90 216 (Asian side)
, registration_plate = 34
, blank_name_sec2 = GeoTLD
, blank_i ...
,
Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...
from June 3–14, 1996. The conference outcomes were integrated in the Istanbul Declaration. World leaders also adopted the Habitat Agenda as a global plan of action for adequate shelter for all, with the notion of sustainable human settlements driving development in an urbanizing world.
Structure
Secretary-General
Joan Clos, the 1997–2006
Mayor of Barcelona
This is a list of mayors of Barcelona since 1916.
Mayors before Franco
*...
* Bartomeu Robert i Yarzábal (1899 - 1901)
*...
* Manuel Rius i Rius (1916 - 1917)
* Antoni Martínez i Domingo (1917 - 1917)
* Lluís Duran i Ventosa (1917 - 1917)
* ...
and Executive Director of
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 ...
from 2010 to 2018, was also Secretary-General of the Habitat III.
Participants
Habitat III invited all Member States and relevant
stakeholders, including
parliament
In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...
arians,
civil society organizations, regional and local government and municipality representatives, professionals and researchers, academia, foundations, women and youth groups,
trade union
A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ...
s, and the
private sector
The private sector is the part of the economy, sometimes referred to as the citizen sector, which is owned by private groups, usually as a means of establishment for profit or non profit, rather than being owned by the government.
Employment
The ...
, as well as organizations of the
United Nations system
The United Nations System consists of the United Nations' six principal organs (the General Assembly, Security Council, Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), Trusteeship Council, International Court of Justice (ICJ), and the UN Secretariat) ...
and
intergovernmental organizations
An international organization or international organisation (see spelling differences), also known as an intergovernmental organization or an international institution, is a stable set of norms and rules meant to govern the behavior of states a ...
.
About 30,000 people in total attended the conference, which was based at the
Casa de la Cultura Ecuatoriana
La Casa de la Cultura Ecuatoriana (''The House of Ecuador
Ecuador ( ; ; Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republi ...
in Quito.
[ (Republication of]
Here's what happened at Habitat III
at ''The Conversation
''The Conversation'' is a 1974 American mystery thriller film written, produced, and directed by Francis Ford Coppola and starring Gene Hackman, John Cazale, Allen Garfield, Cindy Williams, Frederic Forrest, Harrison Ford, Teri Garr, and Robe ...
''.)
Road Map
The first session of the Preparatory Committee (PrepCom1) for Habitat III was held in New York, United Nations Headquarter, from 17 to 18 September 2014. The second session of the Preparatory Committee (PrepCom2) for Habitat III was held in Nairobi, Kenya, from 14 to 16 April 2015. The PrepCom3 took place from 25 to 27 July 2016, in Surabaya, Indonesia.
Policy reports
The process towards Habitat III includes the elaboration of national and regional reports -that will converge in a Global Report- to provide evidence-based knowledge on the implementation of the Habitat Agenda and a comprehensive analysis on the global state of urbanization as well as good practices and tools both at the policy and intervention level.
22 stock taking papers on relevant topics, Habitat III Issue Papers,
were developed through a collaborative exercise of the United Nations system coordinated by the Habitat III Secretariat.
A number of official Regional and Thematic High Level Meetings involving a wide range of participants are debating priorities for the New Urban Agenda and policy recommendations in the form of a final participants' declaration. The final declaration from Regional and Thematic meetings will be considered official inputs to the Habitat III process.
A total of 10 policy papers on relevant topics will be developed by Policy Units
composed of 20 experts each, coming from different geographic areas and constituencies.
Engagement
The debate towards Habitat III is an ongoing process that includes past sessions of the World Urban Forums, especially the last one held in 2014 in
Medellin,
Colombia, and National Urban Forums to discuss and deliberate on national priority subjects including the preparation of the HIII National Reports.
Beyond the governmental participation in the process through the
General Assembly
A general assembly or general meeting is a meeting of all the members of an organization or shareholders of a company.
Specific examples of general assembly include:
Churches
* General Assembly (presbyterian church), the highest court of presb ...
, the engagement to the Conference will include the General Assembly of Partners (GAP) to serve as a broad-based deliberative platform for non-governmental partners in order to develop a consensus for a joined outcome document and other related matters for Habitat III.
Together Towards Habitat III campaign also promote a Global Citizenship Survey (2015/16) to embrace all contributions on the path to the final outcome of the Conference harvested through activities and initiatives to raise awareness on the New Urban Agenda.
At Habitat III,
SuRe® – The Standard for Sustainable and Resilient Infrastructure, a global voluntary standard which integrates key criteria of sustainability and resilience into infrastructure development and upgrade, was presented by
Global Infrastructure Basel Foundation
Global Infrastructure Basel Foundation (GIB) is an independent, not-for-profit foundation under Swiss law active in the field of sustainable urban infrastructure. The CEO of GIB is Louis Downing.
Activities
GIB supports various stakeholders, suc ...
to the broader public.
New Urban Agenda
The primary goal and outcome of the conference was the agreement by UN member states on the New Urban Agenda (NUA), which will serve as a guideline for urban development for the next twenty years.
A "zero draft" of the New Urban Agenda was released in May 2016 and subsequently edited. The
United Nations General Assembly
The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA or GA; french: link=no, Assemblée générale, AG) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN), serving as the main deliberative, policymaking, and representative organ of the UN. Curr ...
agreed on the final text in September 2016.
[Luisa Bravo & Mirko Guaralda, "Our commitment to implement contents related to public space included in the New Urban Agenda adopted at the UN Habitat III conference"; ''Journal of Public Space'' 2(1), 2017.]
The NUA makes frequent references to related UN agreements, including the
Rio Declaration on Environment and Development
The Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, often shortened to Rio Declaration, was a short document produced at the 1992 United Nations "Conference on Environment and Development" (UNCED), informally known as the Earth Summit. The Rio Decl ...
passed in 1992, and the
2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the
International Guidelines on Urban and Territorial Planning, the
Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (2015–2030), and the
Paris climate agreement
The Paris Agreement (french: Accord de Paris), often referred to as the Paris Accords or the Paris Climate Accords, is an international treaty on climate change. Adopted in 2015, the agreement covers climate change mitigation, adaptation, and ...
, all issued in 2015.
The four mechanisms envisioned for effecting the New Urban Agenda are:
[Vanessa Watson, "Locating planning in the New Urban Agenda of the urban sustainable development goal"; ''Planning Theory'' 15(4), 2016; doi:10.1177/1473095216660786.]
# National urban policies promoting "integrated systems of cities and human settlements" in furtherance of "sustainable integrated urban development".
# Stronger urban
governance
Governance is the process of interactions through the laws, norms, power or language of an organized society over a social system ( family, tribe, formal or informal organization, a territory or across territories). It is done by the gove ...
"with sound institutions and mechanisms that empower and include urban stakeholders" along with checks and balances, to promote predictability, social inclusion, economic growth, and environmental protection.
# Reinvigorated "long-term and integrated urban and territorial planning and design in order to optimize the spatial dimension of the urban form and deliver the positive outcomes of urbanization"; and
# Effective financing frameworks "to create, sustain and share the value generated by sustainable urban development in an inclusive manner."
Urban planning
Urban planning
Urban planning, also known as town planning, city planning, regional planning, or rural planning, is a technical and political process that is focused on the development and design of land use and the built environment, including air, water, ...
is the mechanism by which much of the New Urban Agenda can be accomplished. In particular NUA ¶51 calls for:
urban planning and design instruments that support sustainable management and use of natural resources and land, appropriate compactness and density, polycentrism, and mixed uses, through infill or planned urban extension strategies as applicable, to trigger economies of scale and agglomeration, strengthen food system planning, enhance resource efficiency Resource efficiency is the maximising of the supply of money, materials, staff, and other assets that can be drawn on by a person or organization in order to function effectively, with minimum wasted (natural) resource expenses. It means using the ...
, urban resilience
Urban resilience has conventionally been defined as the "measurable ability of any urban system, with its inhabitants, to maintain continuity through all shocks and stresses, while positively adapting and transforming towards sustainability". Ther ...
, and environmental sustainability.
In ¶66 the parties endorse a
smart city
A smart city is a technologically modern urban area that uses different types of electronic methods and sensors to collect specific data. Information gained from that data is used to manage assets, resources and services efficiently; in retur ...
model:
We commit ourselves to adopting a smart-city approach that makes use of opportunities from digitization, clean energy and technologies, as well as innovative transport technologies, thus providing options for inhabitants to make more environmentally friendly choices and boost sustainable economic growth and enabling cities to improve their service delivery.
Right to the city
The NUA includes language about a "
right to the city", a debated concept referring to popular control over urban processes, but without definite implications for who will prevail when different parties' interests are in conflict.
Financing
The NUA calls for both
public
In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichk ...
and
private financing. Public financing may be derived from the economic gains from urbanization, including land and property value and infrastructure projects. Development funds and
development banks are envisioned as "intermediaries for urban financing". (NUA ¶130–153).
Private funding is envisioned especially for
real estate
Real estate is property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this (also) an item of real property, (more general ...
and
housing
Housing, or more generally, living spaces, refers to the construction and assigned usage of houses or buildings individually or collectively, for the purpose of shelter. Housing ensures that members of society have a place to live, whether i ...
; the NUA encourages
the participation of a diverse range of multilateral financial institutions, regional development banks and development finance institutions, cooperation agencies, private-sector lenders and investors, cooperatives, moneylenders and microfinance banks to invest in affordable and incremental housing in all its forms. (NUA ¶140)
Organizational responses
* Luisa Bravo & Mirko Guaralda, of the
Queensland University of Technology
Queensland University of Technology (QUT) is a public research university located in the urban coastal city of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. QUT is located on two campuses in the Brisbane area viz. Gardens Point and Kelvin Grove. The univ ...
, with Hendrik Tieben of the
Chinese University of Hong Kong
The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) is a public research university in Ma Liu Shui, Hong Kong, formally established in 1963 by a charter granted by the Legislative Council of Hong Kong. It is the territory's second-oldest university and ...
, launched the ''Journal of Public Space'' on 19 October 2016 at the Habitat III Urban Library. The journal deals with issues related to
public space
A public space is a place that is open and accessible to the general public. Roads (including the pavement), public squares, parks, and beaches are typically considered public space. To a limited extent, government buildings which are open to ...
and its influence on culture, behavior, and development.
* The
International Urban Development Association (Association Internationale du Développement Urbain, INTA) met on 27–30 November 2016 for one of a series of 18 "Initiative for Habitat III" conferences which began in May 2015. The conference discussed implementing the New Urban Agenda, emphasizing the importance of local governments and non-governmental organizations.
* A group of
Multilateral Development Banks
An international financial institution (IFI) is a financial institution that has been established (or chartered) by more than one country, and hence is subject to international law. Its owners or shareholders are generally national governments, al ...
(
African Development Bank
The African Development Bank Group (AfDB) or (BAD) is a multilateral development finance institution headquartered in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, since September 2014. The AfDB is a financial provider to African governments and private companies ...
,
Asian Development Bank
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is a regional development bank established on 19 December 1966, which is headquartered in the Ortigas Center located in the city of Mandaluyong, Metro Manila, Philippines. The bank also maintains 31 field offic ...
,
CAF - Development Bank of Latin America,
European Bank for Reconstruction and Development,
European Investment Bank,
Inter-American Development Bank Group,
Islamic Development Bank
The Islamic Development Bank ( ar, البنك الإسلامي للتنمية, abbreviated as IsDB) is a multilateral development finance institution that is focused on Islamic finance for infrastructure development and located in Jeddah, Saudi ...
, and the
World Bank Group
The World Bank Group (WBG) is a family of five international organizations that make leveraged loans to developing countries. It is the largest and best-known development bank in the world and an observer at the United Nations Development Gr ...
) issued a joint statement in support of Habitat III and committing to "support the implementation of the UN's New Urban Agenda through direct financing, catalyzing other resources, as well as domestic resource mobilization."
See also
*
Agenda 21
Agenda 21 is a non-binding action plan of the United Nations with regard to sustainable development. It is a product of the Earth Summit (UN Conference on Environment and Development) held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 1992. It is an action age ...
*
Our Common Future
__NOTOC__
''Our Common Future'', also known as the Brundtland Report, was published on October 1987 by the United Nations through the Oxford University Press. This publication was in recognition of Gro Harlem Brundtland's, former Norwegian Prime M ...
*
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, ...
References
{{reflist
External links
United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development (Habitat III)The New Urban AgendaUnited Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat)Seventh session of the World Urban Forum, MedellinHabitat III, la visión de la sociedad latinoamericana(in Spanish)
2016 conferences
2016 in the environment
Environmental conferences
United Nations conferences
Human settlement
Urban development
United Nations Human Settlements Programme
Ecuador and the United Nations