The Habitat Professionals Forum Statement on the Special Session
at the General Assembly of the United Nations on HABITAT II
6-8 June 2001 in New York
By Dr. Irene Wiese - von Ofen, Chair of the Habitat Professionals Forum
Your Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak on behalf of the HABITAT
Professionals Forum. The HABITAT Professionals Forum was established in 1999 at
the initiative of the International Federation for Housing and Planning (IFHP),
the International Union of Architects (UIA), the International Federation of
Surveyors (FIG), the International Society of City and Regional Planners (IsoCaRP),
the Centre for African Settlement Studies and Development (CASSAD) and the Arab
Urban Development Institute (AUDI). The Forum was organized under the auspices
of UNCHS (HABITAT).
The word Forum means 'platform', a place where information is brought
together in order to communicate with others. It is not a club with members nor
an organization with statutes, but a partnership of sovereign federations and
institutes working together to address worldwide problems related to population
increase and homelessness, planning, housing and human settlements. The Forum is
open to other international nongovernmental organizations that work on topics
related to the HABITAT Agenda. The Forum can help to establish networks and to
share knowledge and experiences.
The awareness of different governmental levels and their action is critical
for the implementation of the HABITAT Agenda. But in addition to these
governmental commitments, civil society should take into consideration, that the
implementation of the principles of sustainability is a continuous learning
process. Learning needs to occur on different levels of overlapping
nongovernmental fields of training and co-operation in order to transform our
current way of life into a more sustainable one. Non-governmental organizations,
acting as mediators, can use their commitment, their professional talents and
experiences to help resolve these difficult processes laden with conflicts.
Looking at the different speed worldwide
- of technical and economical structural changes,
- of the more indolent, more traditional social-political structures, and
- of the ecological processes (with their own long lasting laws of nature
and continued evolution),
one needs experts to solve these problems.
In every country there are highly educated experts with special expertise,
but they often do not have enough experience or the support of state or local
authorities, and are not part of an international network that helps to exchange
ideas and innovative approaches. Therefore, the challenge is to provide training
for better interdisciplinary and intergovernmental co-operation. The HABITAT
Professionals Forum, related to UNCHS, addresses this challenge by offering a
platform for professionals to meet one another.
Knowledge and expertise in the various disciplines of urban and regional
planning, traffic and transportation planning, architecture and ecology,
sociology and law, health and culture, sciences and economy, statistics and
geographic information, surveying and land administration are the precondition
for solving the problems of human settlements on the technical side of the
tremendous task to provide "shelter for all". In order to address the
human side of this task, we need participation of the people, the families, the
women, the children, as well as of companies, firms, institutions, enterprises
etc. Any change in physical structure leads to a change of social composition.
Contemporary architecture must respond with precision to social requirements and
architectural beauty needs to be an important defining factor of the cities in
which we live. Without sound land administration there is no sustainable
solution to housing problems. Professional experts are ready to add their
expertise and knowledge to the pool of experience, in order
- to organize forums with the UNCHS to exchange best practices,
- to organize national forums by invitation of local governments,
- to include the principles of the HABITAT Agenda into the educational
curricula and research agendas,
- to help mediate between investors and inhabitants, if we are asked to do
so,
- to give recommendations to the governments in order to establish
partnerships and to achieve quality in architecture and urban planning, land
information, construction, cadastre and land management, and
- to work worldwide towards an integrated social and technical approach in
addressing the problems of human settlements.
At the URBAN 21-Conference in Berlin in July 2000 the HABITAT Professionals
Forum outlined the different views of town-planners, architects, surveyors and
housing experts about their responsibilities in the field of human settlements.
Everybody is looking for beauty. The role of architects is to advocate beauty
and harmony in the environment. Faced with social problems, poverty and
oftentimes insufficient funding and governmental support for architecture and
planning, professionals have to increase awareness of the importance of art and
beauty without forgetting the priority of social and economic issues. People
need shelter, but this shelter can be organized in different manners. Architects
and planners should find a way of linking the challenge of providing shelter for
all with professional competence in design and beauty, with creating urban
identity and addressing social concerns. In order to provide those who work in
the informal sector with access to land and secure tenure-ship, in order to
achieve acceptable standards in housing and infrastructure, land resource and
management and new ways of financing, we need worldwide consensus, professional
expertise and the commitment of the national governments. They need to follow-up
with the creation of the relevant laws and need to establish holistic policies,
so that, with the support of flexible administrations, innovative-minded people
in the countries around the world are able to realize, what they believe are the
right steps.
During this Special Session of the General Assembly the Habitat Professionals
Forum will be holding three workshops. They address the UNCHS-campaigns for
- secure tenure, and
- good governance and
- the relationship of the two campaigns and Finance for Development.
We will continue our efforts following the draft declaration (§37) by
offering a platform for the exchange of ideas and experiences at
- the world conference of the FIG in Washington DC /USA, April 2002,
- the world congress of the UIA in Berlin/Germany, July 2002,
- the world congress of the IFHP in Tianjin/China, September 2002.
Together with local authorities we continue to help building capacity and
strengthening civil society through our work as nongovernmental professional
organizations focusing on the following key issues:
- developing strategies to link security of tenure to sustainable
development,
- supporting governmental efforts to increase women's access to land,
- helping to address the need for and to develop a national land
administration vision and policy,
- supporting initiatives to formalize informal settlements through expertise
and capacity building,
- working towards good architecture that relates to the surrounding
environment and acts as an element of identification in the development of a
(hopefully) sustainable environment,
- helping to establish structures that provide access to infrastructure,
- ensuring quality in low-cost housing and shelter, and addressing these
needs by involving local economy, qualification and employment,
- developing affordable planning, GIS and cadastre systems,
- offering technical know-how and research expertise in organizing mobility,
- providing assistance in participatory processes on the local level (§ 39
Draft Declaration) and in intensifying the relationship of Agenda 21 and
HABITAT Agenda (§ 48 Draft Declaration).
Dr. Irene Wiese - von Ofen
Email: B-A-S-S@t-online.de
More information about the Habitat Professionals Forum at Istanbul + 5
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