Habitat II

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Habitat II - the Second United Nations Conference on Human Settlements - was held in Istanbul, Turkey from June 3-14, 1996, twenty years after the 1976 Habitat conference in Vancouver [1] that had led to the establishment of the Nairobi-based United Nations Centre on Human Settlements - UN-Habitat. The twin priorities of Habitat II were Adequate shelter for all and Sustainable cities. In this regard, Habitat II can be seen as an immediate result of Agenda 21, the UN program focused on sustainable development established at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992.

Habitat II broke new ground for UN conferences in the use of innovative official dialogue sessions with NGOs and led to the adoption of the Habitat Agenda [2], which included substantial recognition of the vital roles of non-governmental partners - including NGOs, municipal governments / local authorities, professionals, scientists and others.