Book Description

At the second United Nations Conference on Human Settlements, known as Habitat II, representatives from 171 countries discussed an issue of global concern: shelter & human settlements in a rapidly globalizing world. Participating countries, including Canada, adopted the Habitat Agenda, a commitment to improve living conditions in the world's cities, towns, & villages. The Agenda offers a framework of goals, principles, strategies, & commitments to guide local, national, & international efforts to turn the Agenda's vision into reality. This report has been prepared to measure progress relative to a number of commitments & recommendations in the Habitat Agenda. Qualitative & quantitative data addressing a series of identified indicators are provided, where possible, for Canada as a whole and for each of five major urban areas: Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, Montreal, & Halifax. The introduction reviews the Canadian approach to housing. The main section is organized in chapters covering six themes: shelter; social development & eradication of poverty; environmental management; economic development; governance; and international co-operation. Within each chapter, the first section addresses the identified indicators for the chapter topic. The second & third sections review key federal & provincial government initiatives relevant to the chapter topic. The fourth section summarizes selected municipal/local best practices relating to the chapter topic. The final section synthesizes stakeholder views on the topic of the chapter, derived from a series of interviews and reflecting a diversity of viewpoints on a number of key issues. The appendix contains a report prepared by the Quebec government that reviews the implementation of the Habitat Agenda from that province's perspective.