Report on preparations for the second United Nations Conference on Human Settlements

Abstract

It is to be recalled that the United Nations Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat I), held at Vancouver, Canada in 1976, resulted in a globally agreed plan of action which stressed the necessity for formulation and implementation of settlements policies and strategies, settlement planning, meeting basic needs in shelter, infrastructure and services, security of tenure or access to affordable land for shelter, public participation, and appropriate institutions and management. However, many developing countries have been unable to formulate and implement a sustainable process of human settlements development; They have also not been able to mobilize domestic and external resources on a scale which matches the needs of their population for shelter provision, in both in the urban and rural areas.