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Committed to Sustainable Cities and Human Settlements for All

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Annual2016​
Home >> Events >> Annual Meeting >> Previous >> GFHS - 2016 >> Background16

Implement the New Urban Agenda and 

Release IGMC Standards 3.0

-The 11th Global Forum on Human Settlements was Successfully Held during the Habitat III


Quito, Ecuador​

17-18 OCTOBER 2016




Background


More than half of humanity is now living in cities where the built area accounts for only 2% of the total land area of the earth. This figure is projected to rise to between 70 and 80% by 2050. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said: “our struggle for global sustainability will be won or lost in cities. The challenges of rapid urbanization figure prominently in the newly adopted 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Goal 11 embodies a commitment to ‘make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable’. And as part of an integrated agenda, cities and human settlements have an important role to play across the 17-goal spectrum.”

 

Projections indicate a doubling of the global urban population between 2000 and 2030, with at the same time a tripling of the urban built area, from 200,000 to 600,000 km², leading to a drop in the average urban density (UN Habitat, 2008). The most significant cases occurred in developing and emerging countries, whilst the urban sprawl and fragmentation contributes significantly to low land productivity, increased infrastructure costs, rising social segregation and inequity, high energy and resource consumption, and climate change. Our cities must transform from the extensive, sprawling and quantity-led development to the high-efficient, quality-oriented and smart growth. 


Habitat III


In this context, the Third United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development (Habitat III) was held in Quito, the capital of Ecuador, from October 17 to 20 October 2016, which was attended by a total of about 36,000 representatives from various countries and all walks of life, including the multinational leaders and leaders from the United Nations and other international organizations. The mission of the Conference is to revitalize the commitment to sustainable urbanization, and to establish through the "New Urban Agenda", the development goals and direction of the world's cities in the next 20 years.

At the same time, the 11th Global Forum on Human Settlements (GFHS-XI) was held in Quito on 17-18 October as an parallel meeting of "Habitat III", with the theme of "Compact Sustainable City Offers a Better Life". The outcome document IGMC Standards 3.0, was issued to guide and assess sustainable urban development and promote and complement the implementation of the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda and the New Urban Agenda through pragmatic planning building strategies and indicators. The presentation ceremony of 2016 Sustainable Cities and Human Settlements Awards was also held at the Conference.
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