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UN -
Habitat's World Urban Forum
13 - 17 Eylül 2004, Barselona - İspanya
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The Spanish Mediterranean port city of Barcelona is preparing to receive some
2,000 to 3,000 delegates representing governments, local authorities,
non-governmental organisations and other experts on urban issues from around the
world for the second gathering of UN-HABITAT's World Urban Forum 13 - 17
September 2004.
Held every two years, the forum is a key event on the international calendar,
a new ground-breaking global initiative to address and keep abreast of the main
challenge of the new Millennium – our planet's transition to an urban world.
The theme of this year's forum is: Cities: Crossroads of cultures,
inclusiveness and integration?
The challenge facing the forum
As UN-HABITAT Executive Director told delegates at the first World Urban Forum
at the organization's headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya in 2002: “In 1950,
two-thirds of all people lived in the countryside. By 2050, two-thirds of all
people will be at home in the city. At this moment, 3 billion people, half the
population of the planet, live in cities. In 1950, Metropolitan New York was the
only place on earth with a population of more than 10 million. There are now 20
cities of that size with more on the way, almost all of which will be in
developing countries.”
Those figures are growing, and most worryingly, slums and urban poverty on
the outskirts of towns and cities in Africa, Asia and Latin America are
burgeoning too at rates never before imagined.
Participation
Participation in the forum is open to representatives of national governments,
and Habitat Agenda partners. These include local authorities, the Global
Parliamentarians on Habitat, non-governmental organisations, community based
organisations, human settlements professionals, research institutions and
academies of learning, private business and non-profit sectors, foundations and
various UN organisations and other international agencies.
The Universal Forum of Cultures
It is an important fact that the World Urban Forum will be held during the
Universal Forum of Cultures which Barcelona is hosting from 9 May to 24
September. An international event to celebrate cultural diversity, sustainable
development and a culture of peace, it is being organised by the city with
UNESCO, and is expected to have drawn 5 million visitors to a range of special
exhibits and dialogues by the time it is over.
Click
for the program.
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