In New York City in September 2015, the UN adopted the sustainable development goals, which aim to end poverty in all its forms. This was closely followed by COP 21, the UN climate change conference, in Paris in December 2015, which chartered a new course in the two-decade-old global climate effort. In both cases, governments put their best foot forward, compromised, and signed up to creating a fairer and more sustainable world.
On the heels of these two comes Habitat III, the UN conference on housing and sustainable urban development, to be hosted in Quito, Ecuador, in October. The third in a series, this world gathering surfaces every 20 years. The conference will grapple with some of the most significant issues confronting cities: migration, housing affordability, sustainable economic growth, and the environment. It will result in a new urban agenda: a path to sustainable development over the next two decades.
This will not be an easy task and the conference itself is a behemoth. The preparatory period resulted in 22 issue papers, four regional meetings, seven thematic meetings, 10 policy papers, online dialogue sessions and the input of 200 experts to assist in drafting the first version of the agenda. Now we are on the homestretch and timing is critical.
Last week an initial version of the new urban agenda was released. Not only does it lack an overarching focus, it swerves away from the overriding sentiment coming out of both New York and Paris – that of building a future where no one is left behind. As it stands, the new urban agenda privileges cities as engines of economic growth and prosperity, and pays scant attention to the impact that this emphasis will continue to have on marginalised populations – such as those living in poverty, homeless people, disabled people, single mothers, migrants and refugees.
For millions across the globe, economic growth in cities comes at a substantial cost: ghettoisation, entrenched poverty, development-based evictions, displacement, excessive increases in the cost of housing, and the burgeoning of informal settlements without adequate services.
The bulk of the issues confronting the most vulnerable people in cities are human rights issues: poverty, homelessness, inequality, discrimination, lack of access to adequate, affordable housing and basic services. The new urban agenda has yet to acknowledge this.
This week governmental officials are convening in New York to continue to hammer out the agenda. There is still time for them to get it right.
A realistic vision of inclusive and sustainable cities cannot affirm the importance of economic growth without demanding a new approach to economic policymaking. This must be based on the realisation of human rights and more equitable distribution of resources in cities, including land and access to public space. Without this, the promise of affordability and non-discriminatory access to housing will remain hollow, because the financial institutions that profit from the commodification of land and property are free from robust and effective human rights monitoring and accountability mechanisms.
This is, of course, a tough sell. It suggests that those who are sitting comfortably be made less comfortable through regulations and monitoring consistent with human rights. It suggests a return to a kind of fairness that those with power have grown accustomed to living without.
With two thirds of the world’s population expected to be living in urban centres by 2050, Habitat III should be the centre of our attention. But can Quito really be Paris or New York?
Leilani Farha is the special rapporteur on the right to housing, appointed by the United Nations human rights council. Megan Hooft, a senior aide to the special rapporteur, also contributed to the article.
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