Implementing the Habitat Agenda. In Search of Urban Sustainability

The Habitat Agenda was adopted at the second United Nations conference on Human Settlements 'The City Summit' in Istanbul in 1996, when governments of the world signed up to an ambitious Global Plan of Action to reform many of the ways in which towns and cities are planned and managed and the methods by which housing is built and mantained.

Authors:
Patrick Wakely
Nicholas You

Publication Date: 2001

ISBN:1 874502 00 5

Since then many innovative and successful approaches to housing and sustainable urban development have been initiated and tested. These range from major policy reform to community improvement and slum upgrading; from the reduction of city's energy consumption to the recycling of a neighbourhood's waste. This book documents a selection of 84 initiatives, their achievements and the lessons that have been learned from them. The case studies have been selected from more than 1500 documented practices which have addressed some of the most critical social, economic and environmental problems facing a rapidly urbanising and changing world. Most of them illustrate inclusive and participatory approaches to problem solving and to good urban governance. The book is intended for decision-makers, professionals and ordinary people - women and men with a concern for social justice, equity and the quality of life of their cities, towns and communities.