Urbanization and Rights
Friday, Mar 26, 2010 @ 3:50 pm
The World Urban Forum is the biennial international gathering organized by UN-HABITAT that brings together stakeholders from governments, businesses, academia, nonprofits, and social movements, to address the diverse issues present and emergent in the world's cities. In its fifth session this year, the focus of the forum is on the right to the city, and the explorations of ways in which the multiplicity of divides that exist and persist in urban environments may be bridged. In parallel to the forum, UN-HABITAT published the State of the World's Cities 2010/2011, which illustrates current urbanization trends, achievements of Millennium Development Goals, and further recommendations. Climate change and population growth, coupled with the concerns of allocation and access to resources and services are well established. The report emphasizes the heart of this challenge, as it explores the ways through which human rights and equity are to be safeguarded and integrated into urbanization processes.