Vancouver Declaration on Human Settlements & Plan of ActionThe issues of housing, building, and environmental planning have concerned the United Nations since its beginnings. In 1946, the General Assembly adopted a resolution on Housing and Town Planning, which recommended that international arrangements be set up to “promote and coordinate research and the international exchange of information on the subject...and that suitable housing standards be elaborated.”
From 31 May to 11 June 1976, the UN Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat I) took place in Vancouver, Canada. The conference adopted the Vancouver Declaration on Human Settlements and Action Plan, a blueprint for national and international action to improve the living places of people throughout the world.
Work accomplished at Habitat I would lead to the creation, in 1977, of the Commission on Human Settlements and the United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (commonly known as Habitat). On 1 January 2002, through General Assembly resolution 56/206, Habitat’s mandate was strengthened and its status elevated to a fully-fledged programme in the UN system, giving birth to UN-Habitat, the United Nations Human Settlements Programme.