The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is responsible for coordinating responses to environmental issues within the United Nations system. It was established by Maurice Strong, its first director, after the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment in Stockholm in June 1972. Its mandate is to provide leadership, deliver science and develop solutions on a wide range of issues, including climate change, the management of marine and terrestrial ecosystems, and green economic development. The organization also develops international environmental agreements; publishes and promotes environmental science and helps national governments achieve environmental targets.
The United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) is the United Nations programme for human settlements and sustainable urban development. It was established in 1977 as an outcome of the first United Nations Conference on Human Settlements and Sustainable Urban Development held in Vancouver, Canada, in 1976. UN-Habitat maintains its headquarters at the United Nations Office at Nairobi, Kenya. It is mandated by the United Nations General Assembly to promote socially and environmentally sustainable towns and cities with the goal of providing adequate shelter for all. It is a member of the United Nations Development Group. The mandate of UN-Habitat derives from the Habitat Agenda, adopted by the United Nations Conference on Human Settlements in Istanbul, Turkey, in 1996. The twin goals of the Habitat Agenda are adequate shelter for all and the development of sustainable human settlements in an urbanizing world.
H. Peter Oberlander, was a Canadian architect and Canada's first professor of Urban and Regional Planning.
Anna Kajumulo Tibaijuka is a Tanzanian politician and United Nations official. She was a Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) Member of the National Assembly for Muleba South constituency during 2010 to 2020 and served as the Minister of Lands, Housing and Human Settlement Developments from 2010 to 2014.
Charles N. Keenja was a Tanzanian CCM politician and a cabinet Minister.
The United Nations Sustainable Development Group (UNSDG), previously the United Nations Development Group (UNDG), is a consortium of 36 United Nations funds, programmes, specialized agencies, departments and offices that play a role in development. It was created by the Secretary-General of the United Nations in order to improve the effectiveness of United Nations development activities at the country level.
The International Volunteer Day for Economic and Social Development, more commonly referred to as International Volunteer Day (IVD), is an international observance mandated by the UN General Assembly in 1985. It offers an opportunity for volunteer-involving organizations and individual volunteers to promote volunteerism, encourage governments to support volunteer efforts, and recognize volunteer contributions to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at local, national, and international levels. International Volunteer Day is marked and supported by the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme. UNV coordinates a campaign to promote IVD every year.
Otto H. Königsberger was a German architect who worked mainly in urban development planning in Africa, Asia and Latin America, with the United Nations. He also proposed some plans for developing new cities like Bhubaneswar and Jamshedpur under the vision of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru who wanted to build planned cities in India.
The Global Planners Network is a group of spatial planning institutes and other organizations, who have signed the Vancouver Declaration. Current GPN membership extends to 25 organizations representing more than 150,000 planners.
Korogocho is one of the largest slum neighbourhoods of Nairobi, Kenya. Home to 150,000 to 200,000 people pressed into 1.5 square kilometres, northeast of the city centre, Korogocho was founded as a shanty town on the then outskirts of the city.
World Habitat Day is marked on the first Monday of October each year, and is recognized by the United Nations to reflect on the state of towns and cities, and on the basic right of all to adequate shelter. The day is also intended to remind the world that everyone has the power and the responsibility to shape the future of towns and cities. World Habitat Day was first celebrated in 1986 in Nairobi, Kenya, and the theme chosen for that year was "Shelter is My Right".
The World Urban Forum (WUF) is the world’s premier conference on urban issues. It was established in 2001 by the United Nations to examine one of the most pressing issues facing the world today: rapid urbanisation and its impact on communities, cities, economies, climate change and policies.
Arcot Ramachandran (1923-2018) was an Indian scientist, anthropologist, author and a former Under-Secretary General of United Nations Centre for Human Settlements, known for his scholarship on the subjects of heat and mass transfer and environment and his social commitment to the cause of sustainable development. The Government of India honoured him in 2003, with the Padma Bhushan, the third highest civilian award, for his services to the fields of Science and Engineering.
Habitat III, the United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development, took place in Quito, Ecuador, from 17 – 20 October 2016.
Dato' Seri Paduka Maimunah binti Mohd Sharif is the Executive Director of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat). She assumed office in January 2018, becoming the first Asian woman to serve as Executive Director of UN-Habitat. On 20 January 2022, she was re-elected by the UN General Assembly for a two-year term that ends on 19 January 2024.
Victor Kisob is the former Deputy Executive Director of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme UN-HABITAT at the level of UN Assistant Secretary-General. He was appointed as Deputy Executive Director on 25 July 2018 by the United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres.
The following lists events that happened with or in collaboration with the United Nations and its agencies in the year 2020.
Sustainable Development Goal 11, titled "sustainable cities and communities", is one of 17 Sustainable Development Goals established by the United Nations General Assembly in 2015. The official mission of SDG 11 is to "Make cities inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable". The 17 SDGs take into account that action in one area will affect outcomes in other areas as well, and that development must balance social, economic and environmental sustainability.
World Cities Day is an annual United Nations observance day held on 31 October. The global observance, first held in 2014, is organized by the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) in coordination with each year's selected host city.
Local Urban Observatories (LUOs) were first conceived by Joe Flood, as a successor to the Housing and Urban Indicators Programme of the United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (UN-Habitat). A motion of the UN Commission for Human Settlements called for the institution of a Global Urban Observatory that would co-ordinate a network of local and national Urban Observatories to collect, analyse and promulgate policy-relevant data for cities and countries while sharing experiences. The form, organisation and activities of these observatories were to be left to the countries and cities involved, except that they were required to collect urban indicators for international comparisons, similar to those collected for the Habitat II Conference in 1996.
