World Habitat Day Message: Harmonious, Greener Urbanization

Anna Tibaijuka serves as executive director of UN-HABITAT, the agency which promotes socially and environmentally sustainable towns and cities and adequate shelter for all. "Cities consume upwards of 75 percent of all energy and contribute to an equally substantial amount of greenhouse gas emissions. Cities must therefore be an integral part of any mitigation efforts," she said on World Habitat Day, which is observed on the first Monday in October each year.

The theme of this year's World Habitat Day is "harmonious cities," and the global observance this year is being led from the Angolan capital, Luanda.

The Angolan capital city of Luanda is undergoing rapid urbanization. (Photo by Carlos Joao)

The celebrations in Angola are intended to show the world how, after nearly three decades years of conflict, the country is progressing in the establishment of harmonious cities through improvements in urban infrastructure and services, and a new urban development strategy.

"We have both a moral and ethical responsibility to make our cities more harmonious by making them more inclusive. It is a societal imperative that we fight urban poverty and squalor if we are to secure urban safety and security," said Tibaijuka.

Attending the the event, taking place for the first time on the African continent, were African housing ministers, particularly those from the Southern Africa Development Community. The celebration featured cultural activities, award ceremonies, and speeches by government officials.

Of the world's 6.7 billion people, there are now more than one billion urban slum dwellers Tibaijuka said, emphasizing the need to ensure that rapid urbanization is accompanied by decent living conditions and efforts to preserve the environment.

"Reducing the contribution of cities to climate change and the vulnerability of cities to the effects of climate change must be viewed as a historical opportunity to improve the living conditions of all women and men, including the most vulnerable segments of our urban populations," she said. "I can think of no better initiative than to combine these efforts to make our cities and towns greener and safer and more equitable."

"Our rapidly urbanizing world cannot claim to be harmonious if slum dwellers do not enjoy opportunities to find jobs and improve their living conditions," said UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. "Nor will it be harmonious if the growth and expansion of urban areas comes at the expense of the natural environment."

The Millennium Development Goals, the set of anti-poverty targets world leaders committed to in 2000, call for a significant improvement in the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers by 2020.

"Cities have tremendous potential to be places where balanced development prevails, where diverse people live in harmony, and where healthy living conditions coexist with low levels of energy consumption, resource-use and waste," said Ban.

"I call on all partners and stakeholders to do our utmost to realize this potential, and to build decent living conditions for all women, men and children in a way that also preserves our natural heritage and promotes greener and smarter growth."

Raquel Rolnik, the UN special rapporteur on adequate housing, says that the growth of slums in the last 15 years has been "unprecedented" with one out of every three city dwellers today living in a slum.

"Living in slums means being deprived of access to adequate sanitation, education and health care or to other services and opportunities. It also means being excluded from full participation in civic life and the exercise of citizen's rights, as slums are considered illegal, informal or transitory and in any case a non-permanent part of a city's political and economic fabric," Rolnik said in a statement.

Residential buildings in Nanjing, China (Photo by Christi Mendoza)

This year's World Habitat Day comes ahead of the fourth session of the World Urban Forum, set to take place in Nanjing, China, from November 3 to 6. There, UN-HABITAT will release its latest biennial publication "State of the World's Cities."

Nanjing is the recipient of this year's Habitat Scroll of Honour Special Citation, recognizing outstanding achievements in the cause of sustainable human settlements.

In addition, the Chinese cities of Shaoxing and Zhangjiagang were given the Habitat Scroll of Honour Award, along with the Rwandan capital, Kigali, the Russian city of Bugulma, and Juarez, a Mexican city on the Mexico-U.S. border.

In Bangkok, Thailand, seven free online Quick Guides were launched today for World Habitat Day. They are intended to help policymakers deal with the key issues of housing urban poor in the Asia-Pacific region.

The Quick Guides, developed jointly by the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific and UN-HABITAT, are in response to the unprecedented growth of slums and squatter settlements in the region that now house over 500 million people.

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