| Abstract: | Half of the world's population will be living in cities by the year 2000. 40% of urban residents worldwide, however, do not have access to safe drinking water or adequate sanitation and more than 60% of urban residents in some areas live in poverty. Unemployment, homelessness, growing insecurity, rising pollution, and increasing vulnerability to disaster abound in cities. To discuss what can be done to cope with the overwhelming tide of urbanization, UN Member States will convene in Istanbul during June 3-14, 1996, for the second UN Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat II). This paper describes advances since the first UN Conference on Human Settlements held in Vancouver in 1976, the aims of Habitat II, urbanization, the Habitat agenda, new partnerships, best practices, final preparations, goals and principles, commitments and action, and ten policies capable of making a difference with regard to sustainable human settlements. |
