UN-HABITAT in the Year 2007, That Human Being Will Either Move to a City Or Be Born in One
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Sometimes it takes just one human being to tip the scales and change the course of history. At some point UN-HABITAT in the year 2007, that human being will either move to a city or be born in one. The event itself will go unnoticed but demographers watching urban trends STATE OF THE WORLD’S will mark it as the moment when the world entered a new urban millennium, a period in which, for the first time in history, the majority of the world’s people will live in cities. The year 2007 will also see the number of slum dwellers in the world cross the one billion mark – when one in every three city residents will live in a slum. cities Although poverty remains a primarily rural phenomenon, large sections of the urban population in developing countries are suffering from extreme 2006/7 levels of deprivation that are often even more debilitating than those experienced by the rural poor. The Millennium UN-HABITAT analyses reflected in this Report OF THEWORLD’S CITIES 2006/7 STATE show that the incidence of disease and mortality is Development Goals and much higher in slums than in non-slum urban areas, Urban Sustainability: and in some cases, such as HIV prevalence and other 30 Years of Shaping health indicators, is equal to or even higher than in the Habitat Agenda rural areas. These disparities are often not reflected in national statistics, which mask the deprivation experienced in poor urban neighbourhoods. The findings in this Report reveal “a tale of two cities within one city”, where non-slum populations enjoy good health and education, while slum communities suffer from both poor health and lack of opportunities. This edition of the State of the World’s Cities Report provides an overview of a range of issues that link cities, slums and the Millennium Development Goals. It makes clear that the global fight against poverty – encapsulated in the Millennium Development Goals – is heavily dependent on how well cities perform. The Report highlights three inter-related issues: • The Millennium Development Goals provide an apt framework for linking the opportunities provided by cities with improved quality of life; • The achievement of the Goals heavily depends on governments’ capacity to speed up progress and reverse current trends on slum formation; • The achievement of the Goals depends on governments' capacity to speed up progress in reducing urban poverty and inequality and in reversing current trends in slum formation. www.unhabitat.org UN-HABITAT First published by Earthscan in the UK and USA in 2006 for and on behalf of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT) Copyright © United Nations Human Settlements Programme, 2006 All rights reserved United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT) P.O. Box 30030, Nairobi, Kenya Tel: +254 20 7621 234 Fax: +254 20 7624 266/7 Website: www.unhabitat.org DISCLAIMER The designations employed and the presentation of the material in this report do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Secretariat of the United Nations concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area, or of its authorities, or concerning delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries, or regarding its economic system or degree of development. The analysis, conclusions and recommendations of this report do not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme or its Governing Council. HS/814/06E (paperback) HS/815/06E (hardback) ISBN-10: 1-84407-378-5 (Earthscan paperback) 92-1-131811-4 (UN-HABITAT paperback) ISBN-13: 978-1-84407-378-8 (Earthscan paperback) 978-92-1-131811-1 (UN-HABITAT paperback) ISBN-10: 1-84407-379-3 (Earthscan hardback) 92-1-131812-2 (UN-HABITAT hardback) ISBN-13: 978-1-84407-379-5 (Earthscan hardback) 978-92-1-131812-8 (UN-HABITAT hardback) Design and layout by Michael Jones Software, Nairobi, Kenya Printed and bound in Malta by Gutenberg Press Ltd For a full list of Earthscan publications contact: Earthscan 8–12 Camden High Street London, NW1 0JH, UK Tel: +44 (0)20 7387 8558 Fax: +44 (0)20 7387 8998 E-mail: [email protected] Website: www.earthscan.co.uk 22883 Quicksilver Drive, Sterling, VA 20166-2012, USA Earthscan is an imprint of James & James (Science Publishers) Ltd and publishes in association with the International Institute for Environment and Development A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data [to follow] THE STATE OF THE WORLD’S CITIES REPORT 2006/2007 30 Years of Shaping the Habitat Agenda United Nations Human Settlements Programme STATE OF THE WORLD’S CITIES REPORT 2006/7 Forword Introduction The 2006/2007 edition of the State of the World’s Cities marks Istanbul in 1996. With the adoption of the Millennium two important milestones: the dawn of the urban millennium Declaration by the world’s leaders in 2000, much of this work in 2007 and the 30th anniversary of the first Habitat is now focused on monitoring progress in attaining Conference held in Vancouver in June 1976, which placed Millennium Development Goal 7, target 11 on improving the “urbanisation” on the global development agenda. This publi- lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers by 2020. This task cation also marks a less triumphal moment in history. Thirty requires the analysis of how well cities are doing and of the years after the world’s governments first pledged to do more for actual living conditions of the urban poor. Data for this report cities, almost one-third of the world’s urban population lives in comes primarily from Phase III of UN-HABITAT’s Urban slums, most of them without access to decent housing or basic Indicators Programme that compiles global, regional, country services and where disease, illiteracy and crime are rampant. and household-level data of specific relevance to the Habitat Agenda and the Millennium Development Goals. Since its establishment in 1979, the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT) has continued to This Report clearly shows how shelter conditions have a direct highlight the important role and contribution of cities in fos- impact on human development, including child mortality, edu- tering economic and human development. Understanding the cation and employment. The correlation between a poor living complex social, cultural and economic dynamics of cities and environment, characterized by one or more shelter depriva- urbanisation is more important now than ever before as we tions, and poor performance on key indicators of the strive to attain internationally agreed development goals. In a Millennium Development Goals underscores the assertion that rapidly urbanizing world attaining these goals will require poli- “where we live matters”. The findings of this report are unfold- cies and strategies based on clear and accurate data on the ing a new urban reality that needs to be urgently addressed by human settlements conditions and trends in each country. pro-poor and gender-sensitive urban policies and legislation. This edition of the State of the World’s Cities advances this Finally, as the international community celebrates Vancouver + objective by breaking new ground in the area of urban data col- 30, it should also reflect on the important lessons learned in lection, analysis and dissemination. For the first time in the his- urban development and the need to reduce inequalities within tory of the United Nations, urban data is reported here at slum cities. Cities present an unparalleled opportunity for the simul- and non-slum levels, going far beyond the traditional urban- taneous attainment of most if not all of the internationally rural dichotomy. UN-HABITAT’s intra-urban data analysis – agreed development goals. Interventions in, for example, pro- involving disaggregated data for more than 200 cities around poor water and sanitation, have immediate positive knock-on the world – takes this work further and provides detailed evi- effects in terms of improved health, nutrition, disease preven- dence of urban inequalities in the areas of health, education, tion and the environment. However, unless such concerted employment and other key indicators. The implications are sig- action is taken to redress urban inequalities cities may well nificant for the attainment of Millennium Development Goals become the predominant sites of deprivation, social exclusion as we can no longer assume that the urban poor are better off and instability worldwide. than their rural counterparts, or that all urban dwellers are able to benefit from basic services by virtue of proximity. UN-HABITAT has led the drive for urban indicators since 1991 by working with other United Nations agencies and external partners to consistently refine methods for data collec- tion and analysis and to better inform our common quest for “adequate shelter for all” and “sustainable human settlements Anna K. Tibaijuka development in an urbanizing world” - the twin goals of the Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director, Habitat Agenda adopted by the world’s governments in UN-HABITAT ii iii STATE OF THE WORLD’S CITIES REPORT 2006/7 Although poverty remains a primarily rural phenomenon, • Likewise, in some cities, such as Khartoum and Nairobi, urban poverty is becoming a severe, pervasive - and largely unac- the prevalence of diarrhoea is much higher among slum knowledged - feature of urban life. Large sections of the popula- children than among rural children. In slums, child deaths tion in urban areas are suffering from extreme levels of depriva- are attributed not so much to lack of immunization against tion that are often even more debilitating than those experienced measles, but inadequate living conditions, such as lack of by the rural poor. UN-HABITAT analyses reflected in this Report access to water and sanitation or indoor air pollution, show that the incidence of disease and mortality is much higher which lead to water-borne and respiratory illnesses among in slums than in non-slum urban areas, and in some cases, such children.