A Midterm Report: Will Habitat III Make a Difference to the World's Urban Development?

Abstract

In an exploration of the potential impact of Habitat III, the all–United Nations (U.N.) conference that meets every 20 years, I suggest that, in addition to government commitments, clear messaging and strong civic engagement are essential to its success. The basis for these critical elements is already in play, but is it strong enough? In answering this question, I discuss the treatment of cities and human settlements within the U.N. system, the legacies shaping the conference, and the views on sustainable urban development being put forth in its outcome document, the New Urban Agenda (NUA), arguing that the current draft NUA differs from its predecessors, leaving room for strengthening the required advocacy. I conclude with a short challenge to city and regional planners worldwide to become advocates.

Keywords:

• Habitat III
• sustainable urbanization
• sustainable urban development

Color versions of one or more of the figures in the article can be found online at www.tandfonline.com/rjpa.

Notes

1. I wrote this essay in July 2016 after the issuance of the June 18 NUA, but at press time more negotiations have occurred; the Habitat III Secretariat issued two more NUA drafts (July 18, July 28). While these drafts have important text changes, notably the elimination of the International Decade of Sustainable Urbanization and the International Multi-Stakeholder Panel on Sustainable Urbanization by name (see pp. 4, 10–11), they do not entirely preclude action in these areas. More NUA negotiations will take place in New York City in early September and can be followed on the Habitat III website (www.habitat3.org/), with the final document to be concluded by Quito.

2. The recognition of urban places in these agreements also -demonstrate a certain effectiveness on the part of a diverse group of advocates to “raise the flag” on urban matters. Some note that this consensus is fragile, built on pragmatic agreements to achieve strong statements about the subject, but that such alliances can dissolve in the face of detailing priorities, especially in the development of the NUA, hints of which have appeared in recent intergovernmental negotiations leading up to Habitat III (Barnett & Parnell, 2016).

3. Scholars know that some 10,000 years have passed before the world held a billion urbanites, but it took only 25 years (1960–1985) to have the second billion; the third billion is anticipated within 18 years (1985–2003) and the fourth billion within 15 years (2003–2018; Sattherwaite, 2007, p. 1). Also, Rockefeller University demographer Joel Cohen has calculated that to keep up with current population growth, the developing nations will have to build the equivalent of a city of a million every week for the next 40 years (J. Cohen, 2011, p. 27).

4. UN Habitat has three sources of funding: regular budget allocations from the General Assembly (about 10%–20% of the total), general-purpose funds contributed to the UN Habitat and Human Settlements Foundation, and special-purpose (earmarked) funds for technical cooperation. The latter two come from voluntary contributions from member states. Most funding (60%–80%) is earmarked for special projects. An example is its City Resilience Profiling Programme (CRPP), which shares funding with the United Nations Office of Disaster Risk Reduction (UNIDSR; see http://unhabitat.org/eu-provides-6-million-to-make-vulnerable-cities-resilient-to-disasters/).

5. British economist Barbara Ward was influential in both conferences, authoring or coauthoring the key contributing three books that stand out as providing the foundation for current thinking on the subject: The Rich Nations and the Poor Nations (1961), which called for high-income countries to provide financial assistance to low-income countries; Only One Earth: The Care and Maintenance of a Small Planet (coauthored with Rene Dubos, 1971), written for the first U.N. conference on the Human Environment (1972), which promoted sustainable development; and The Home of Man (1976), written for Habitat I, that highlighted the negative consequences of uncontrolled urbanization. In addition, after the conference, the Centre for Housing, Building and Planning issued Human Settlements: The Environmental Challenge: A Compendium of United Nations Papers prepared for the Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment published in 1974 as a trade book by MacMillan and setting a theme for Habitat I.

6. The researchers measured the following: residential infrastructure: improved urban sanitation, water piped on premises, access to water, urban electricity; poverty: urban poverty headcount, under-5 mortality; employment: formal employment, nonvulnverable employment; sustainability: environmental risk exposure, electricity production from renewable sources, excluding hydroelectric (% of total); institutional capacity: government effectiveness, quality of government; gender: gross educational enrollment ratio, tertiary, female (%), no lifetime risk of maternal death.

7. The actual provision, Article 25, reads: “Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control” (United Nations, 1948).

8. Many others have emerged among professionals (e.g., International Union of Architects), researchers and academics (Global Planning Association Educators Network), foundations (Wings), trade unions (Public Service International), business (World Business Council for Sustainability), and others.

9. In the United States, the Departments of State and Housing and Urban Development organized a 40-member national committee of government officials, civic and professional organizations, and researchers and academics. It sponsored five regional conferences called “The City We Want and Need” in the spring and early summer in Chicago (IL), Philadelphia (PA), Denver (CO), El Paso (TX), and Miami (FL). They explored themes of economic and social mobility, resilience, and affordable housing. The national committee also sponsored a series of Washington (DC)–based symposia on the Habitat III process, the sustainable development goals, and other topics to engage in interactive dialogues with federal officials and civil society. Finally, it developed a supplement to the national report to be released in Quito, Ecuador.

10. The United Nations recognized nine major groups at the Rio+ 20 Conference, giving them new rights to speak in official meetings and have nine reserved seats in the observation gallery, a highly innovative change at the time, but one that has caused many to resist admission of other stakeholders to their small privileges.

11. This concept is “one of the key principles of Catholic social thought…known as the principle of subsidiarity. This tenet holds that nothing should be done by a larger and more complex organization which can be done as well by a smaller and simpler organization. In other words, any activity which can be performed by a more decentralized entity should be. This principle is a bulwark of limited government and personal freedom” (Bosnich, 1996).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Eugenie L. Birch

Eugenie L. Birch ([email protected]), FAICP, is Nussdorf Professor at the University of Pennsylvania.