Habitat II

Habitat II, the Second United Nations Conference on Human Settlements, was held in Istanbul, Turkey, from 3–14 June 1996, twenty years after Habitat I held in Vancouver, Canada, in 1976. Popularly called the "City Summit", it brought together high-level representatives of national and local governments, as well as private sector, NGOs, research and training institutions and the media. Universal goals of ensuring adequate shelter for all and human settlements safer, healthier and more livable cities, inspired by the Charter of the United Nations, were discussed and endorsed.

Habitat II received its impetus from the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development and General Assembly resolution A/RES/47/180.^[1] The conference outcomes were integrated in the Istanbul Declaration^[2] and the Habitat Agenda, and adopted as a new global action plan to realize sustainable human settlements. The Secretary-General of the Conference was Dr. Wally N'Dow.

The objectives for Habitat II were stated as: in the long term, to arrest the deterioration of global human settlements conditions and ultimately create the conditions for achieving improvements in the living environment of all people on a sustainable basis, with special attention to the needs and contributions of women and vulnerable social groups whose quality of life and participation in development have been hampered by exclusion and inequality, affecting the poor in general; to adopt a general statement of principles and commitments and formulate a related global plan of action capable of guiding national and international efforts through the first two decades of the next century.

A new mandate for the United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (UNCHS) was derived to support and monitor the implementation of the Habitat Agenda adopted at the Conference and approved by the General Assembly.

Habitat III met in Quito, Ecuador, from 17–20 October 2016.