ABOUT HABITAT III
The Conference
In Resolution 66/207 and in line with the bi-decennial cycle (1976, 1996 and 2016), the United Nations General Assembly decided to convene the Habitat III Conference to reinvigorate the global commitment to sustainable urbanization, to focus on the implementation of a New Urban Agenda, building on the Habitat Agenda of Istanbul in 1996.
Member States of the General Assembly, in Resolution 67/216 , decided that the objectives of the Conference are to secure renewed political commitment for sustainable urban development, assess accomplishments to date, address poverty and identify and address new and emerging challenges. The conference will result in a concise, focused, forward-looking and action-oriented outcome document.
On 22 December 2015 the United Nations General Assembly, on its seventieth session, adopted the resolution on the ‘Implementation of the outcome of the United Nations Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat II) and strengthening of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat)’ (A/70/473) , which refers to the United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development (Habitat III) Conference modalities. The approved rules of procedure for Habitat III recognises the participation of the representatives of local authorities accredited to the Conference in rule 64, as it happened in Habitat II in 1996.Read more
Towards a New Urban Agenda
The United Nations General Assembly convened the Habitat I conference in Vancouver in 1976, as governments began to recognize the need for sustainable human settlements and the consequences of rapid urbanisation, especially in the developing world. At that time, urbanisation and its impacts were barely considered by the international community, but the world was starting to witness the greatest and fastest migration of people into cities and towns in history, as well as rising urban population through natural growth resulting from advances in medicine.
Main outcomesHABITAT II 1996 WORLD URBAN POPULATION 45.1%The Vancouver commitments were reconfirmed twenty years later, at the Habitat II conference in Istanbul. World leaders 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 urbanising world.
Main outcomesHABITAT III 2016 WORLD URBAN POPULATION 54.5% THE NEW URBAN AGENDASecretary-General of the Conference
"The Conference is a unique opportunity for rethinking the Urban Agenda in which governments can respond by promoting a new model of urban development able to integrate all facets of sustainable development to promote equity, welfare and shared prosperity" Dr. Joan Clos
Host Country
Quito - Ecuador
Quito, the capital of Ecuador, is situated at 2,800 meters (9,200 feet) above sea level in the province of Pichincha. It is the second largest city in the country after Guayaquil with a population of 2.6 million people, and one of the highest capitals in the world.
