HABITAT United Nations Conference on Human Settlements Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada May31 to June 11, 1976 • Published by Canadian HABITAT Secretariat Vancouver, B.C. Q TWO HABI TAT CONFERENCES IN VANCOUVER UN HABITAT May 31-June 11, 1976 NGO HABITAT FORUM May 27- June 11, 1976 HABITAT is the United Nations Conference on Human Settlements. It will be held at various locations in downtown Vancouver. HABITAT FORUM is the Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) Conference on Human Settlements. It's to be held at Vancouver's outlying Jericho Beach on an old RCAF seaplane base; related meetings will be conducted at the nearby University of British Columbia. Although the two conferences are differentin Bothsponsorship, HABITAT in andstructure HABITAT and in FORUM format, arethere dedicated are mechani to presentingsms for thesolutions NGO to problemsHABITAT ofFORUM human settlements. to make its views known to the UN HABITAT. The two will also be linked by closed-circuit television. THE HABITAT SYMBOL The symbol for Habitat combines three traditional forms to reaffirmman's belief that he can find answers to the problems of human settlements. The circle emphasizes the universal nature of such problems. Thearepresents shelter. The human figureappeals for better ways to provide this shelter. The rough, graffittistyle reflects mankind's urgent need for answers. Basic Background informationon HABITAT follows. There is a separate section on HABITAT FORUM. HABITAT, the United Nations Conference on Human Settlements, is an outgrowth of the UN Conference on the Human Environment held in Stockholm in June 1972 where it became apparent that urgent action was needed to meet the growing complexity of human settlement problems around the globe. "HUMAN SETTLEMENTS" IS THE KEY The term "human settlements" encompasses all the elements which make up our habitat, or human environment. These elements include food, shelter, energy, work, transport, communications, water, sanitation, health, education, law, protection, economic management, government, recreation and the arts. REA SONS FOR HABITAT "The study of human settlements is an important interdisciplinary science of the future. It deals with the total relationship of every element that makes up the total picture of how and where we live." - Dr. Margaret Mead, world-famous anthropologist. "Tokyo, one of the world's largest cities, will have 25 million people by 1985, more than Canada's total population today." Author, economist, environmentalist Barbara Ward (Lady Jackson) sums it up in the prologue to her new book, THE·HOME OF MAN, which puts HABITAT in the perspective of human needs on a global scale. This excerpt and those that follow were published in the October 1975 issue of the HABITAT BULLETIN. THE WAY THE WORLD IS CHANGING -It took at least 500,000 years for character of this habitat is being the first 100 million people to appear radically transformed in less than on Earth. 100 years. -By about 1500 A.D. there were -After 100 years or so of perhaps 500 million. industrialization, the urban -The great acceleration began in population accounted for 15 per cent knowledge, power, resources, of the world total, leaving rural technology, mobility, conquest. The peoples in overwhelming first 1,000 million mark in predominance. population was passed about 1830. -Now in just a century this -The next 1,000 million took only millenial relationship is being 100 years, the next only 30. overthrown with almost -Today, with just over inconceivable speed. 4,000 million on the planet, the -By 1960, urban populations had added 1,000 million has taken only grown to 1,000 million in a world of 15 years. 3,000 million. -What we' re concernedwith today is the imminent doubling of -By the year 2000, there will our planetary numbers in less than actually be more urban dwellers 40 years. than rural in a world population between 6,000 million and -But before such increases could 7,000 million. take place, hunger, war and plague would have wiped out the surplus. -By 1985, cities of over 1 million -After some 15,000 years of population will have jumped from 11 organized human existence in to 273 in less than a century-147 recognizable settlements, the whole of them in less-developed lands. WHAT'S IT ALL ABOUT? The main purposes of the HABITAT Conference are: -To stimulate innovation, serve as a means for the exchange of experience, and ensure the widest possible dissemination of new ideas and technologies in the field of human settlements; -To formulate and make recommendations for an international program in this fieldwhich will assist governments; -To stimulate interest in developing appropriate financialsystems and institutions for human settlements among those making financialresources available and those in a position to use such resources. PARTICIPATION Participation in HABITAT is on invitation or designationby the UN Secretary-General of the following people: -Representatives of UN member states and selected non-member states; -Representatives of interested UN organs; -Representatives of specialized agencies and the International Atomic Energy Agency; -Observers fromintergovernmental organizations; -Observers fromnational liberation movements and organizations entitled to participate in the Conference; -Observers fromNon-Governmental Organizations. GET INVOLVED Although HABITAT is an officialUN Conference intended for national delegations, its purposeand results involve all of us. Besides, you can: -View the audio-visual presentations scheduled throughout the Conference at the Queen Elizabeth Playhouse; - Feel the Conference pulse at the HABITAT Pavilion on CourthousePlaza; -Join in all the excitement of FESTIVAL HABITAT; -Follow HABITAT proceedings all day long if you wish on cable TV; -Attend and participate in HABITAT FORUM; -Discuss such issues as land use, transportation, energy conservation, pollution and safeneighbourhoods with your family and friends. ORGANIZATION HABITAT is the firstUN conference to be held outside a national capital. In New York, the UN Habitat Secretariat is headed by Secretary-General Enrique Penalosa of Colombia. In Ottawa, under the Minister of State for Urban Affairs, the Hon. BarneyDanson, the Canadian Habitat Secretariat is headed by Commissioner-General James W. MacNeill. In Vancouver, operations are directed by Associate Commissioner-General Dr. Hugh L. Keenleyside. All will come together as the HABITAT opening draws nigh. CONFERENCE LOCATIONS All HABITAT sessions and services will be centred in downtown Vancouver: QUEEN ELIZABETH THEATRE HABITAT PAVILION (Courthouse -Plenary Sessions and UN Exhibit Plaza) -Conference literature, delegate HOTEL VA NCOUVER tour information, postal services -Conference rooms B & C, Host Broadcaster and Media Broadcast HABITAT OPERATIONS Centre CENTRE -Media Centre and administration, HYAT T REGENCY HOTEL UN Secretariat, Conference - Conference room D, Project Services, Habitat Hosting Corps, Presentation Centre (audio-visuals) UN Officeof Public Information HOLIDAY INN CITY CENTRE CANADIAN HABITAT - Conference room E, Preparatory SECRETARIAT Committee -(Bentall Tower III) QUEEN ELIZABETH 652 BURRARD STREET PLAYHOUSE - Delegate registration -Public showings of audio-visuals Simultaneous interpretation will be provided at all plenary and committee sessions in the six officialUN languages: English French Spanish Russian Arabic Chinese HABITAT PAVILION HUB OF The HABITAT Pavilion will be the hub of Conference SERVICES services with facilities for distribution of Conference literature, travel and tour information for delegates, and postal services. A closed-circuit system will provide live TV coverage of the Conference for the public. LOCATION The Courthouse Plaza facing Georgia Street. DESIGN The Pavilion will cover an area of 9, 700 square feet. It will be made up of 112 modular units with roof shells constructed of papier mache. A display of UN flagswill be featured. CONSTRUCTION The modules are being built by 2000 school children in the Greater Vancouver area, it taking 15 youngsters about 2½ hours to do one module. They will also decorate the underside of the roof shells to the theme of Human Settlements. Arthur Erickson Architects designedthe Pavilion; Bogue Babicki & Associates are the structural engineers; Frank Stanzl Construction Ltd. is supervising manufacture of the shells and will be responsible for erection; Wyn Davies, Art Co-ordinator of the Courtenay School District, is organizing the work of the school children. The HABITAT Pavilion will play a central role in the total festive environment which the City of Vancouver is developing through the Habitat Festival Committee. FORMAT& AGENDA The HABITAT Conference in Vancouver will have before it three major issues for consideration and decision: -DECLARATION OF PRINCIPLES -PROPOSALS FOR NATIONAL ACTION -RECOMMENDATIONS FOR INTERNATIONAL CO-OPERATION Discussion will have a definitefocus through position papers prepared by the UN Habitat Secretariat and reviewed by the 56-member Preparatory Committee at its meeting in New York, January 12-23, 1976. Background preparation was intensive, extensive and global in scope, including: -A four-day symposium in Dubrovnik, Yugoslavia, in May, 1975, attended by 30 of the world's leading architects, planners, environmentalists and related experts, to lay the philosophical basis for Human Settlements as an inter-disciplinary science; -Four regional meetings in Cairo, Tehran, Caracas and Geneva in which more than 100 countries participated;