HABITAT CONFERENCES DIGITAL ARCHIVE
This archive contains digital versions of original documents, videos and other items produced for the first and second United Nations Conferences on Human Settlements held in 1976 in Vancouver, Canada, and in 1996 in Istanbul, Turkey. The purpose of this archive is to make these materials readily accessible to the public, and to enable their access in perpetuity. The archive is a work-in-progress and more materials will be added as they become available. This archive has been made possible through a partnership between the School of Community and Regional Planning at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada, and the UN Habitat III Secretariat, with support from several archives and many individuals.
HABITAT I
HABITAT ‘76
United Nations Conference on Human Settlements
May 31-June 11, 1976
Vancouver, Canada
Habitat I (also known as “Habitat ‘76” and “Habitat”) was a global event created to address the urgency of worldwide human settlements issues through enabling a worldwide exchange of information and the formation of an agreed global course of action. It was the largest UN conference undertaken up to that point, and the first to use large scale video-based communication methods. The material produced by participating nations formed “a world-wide snapshot of human settlements at a single moment in time,” as described by Conference Secretary-General Enrique Peñalosa. The official UN-hosted conference attended by government delegates was complemented by an Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) Forum (also known as the “Habitat Forum”) which emphasized innovation and networking between NGOs and grassroots initiatives.
HABITAT II
HABITAT II
United Nations Conference on Human Settlements
3-14 June, 1996
Istanbul, Turkey
Habitat II, the second United Nations Conference on Human Settlements took place from June 3 to 14, 1996 in Istanbul, Turkey, twenty years after the original Habitat Conference. Habitat II – which came to be known as “The City Summit” – brought together 12,000 people with the aim to increase global and national awareness of the problems and potential of human settlements. Taking place less than one year after the UN’s fiftieth anniversary, Habitat II was the last UN Conference of the twentieth century and established the world’s human settlements strategies for the first two decades of the twenty-first century. The official UN-hosted conference attended by government delegates was complemented by a series of meetings and events that enabled governments, NGOs and a broad range of community organizations to discuss their roles in improving human settlements.
HABITAT III
HABITAT III
United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development
17-20 October, 2016
Quito, Ecuador
For information and digital materials from the Habitat III conference, please visit the Official Habitat III Website.
Want to get in touch?
For more information on the Habitat Digital Archive Project, contact the School of Community and Regional Planning at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver.