TITLE:
Looking Back to Look Forward: Evolution of the Habitat Agenda and Prospects for Implementation of the New Urban Agenda
AUTHORS:
Alejandra Reyes, Ariadna Reyes, Caroline Daigle
KEYWORDS:
UN-Habitat, New Urban Agenda, Social Justice, Civic Engagement, Sustaina-ble Development
JOURNAL NAME:
Current Urban Studies,
Vol.8 No.2,
June
28,
2020
ABSTRACT: Followed by two previous conferences 20 and 40 years earlier, the Habitat
III conference convened in Quito in 2016 to tackle global urban challenges.
With cities experiencing ever-increasing levels of poverty, inequality, and
vulnerability to climate change, Habitat’s New Urban Agenda outlines its
priorities for sustainable urban development considering current urban
realities. This paper aims to assess the changing dynamics that have paved the
road towards Habitat III and to evaluate the ongoing prospects for its
effective policy implementation by analyzing: 1) the changing development
paradigms that have informed the three meetings, and 2) the nature, adequacy
and influence of Habitat policy frameworks. Our analysis elucidates the weak
commitment of nations at framing and implementing policies that help advance
past Habitat’s agendas. This leads us to conclude that local governments may be
better suited to promote just and sustainable development. Promising
policymaking may occur if governments can intersect the principles of the New
Urban Agenda with other global agendas, including the Sustainable Development
Goals. Yet, it is relatively clear four years after Habitat III, that local
commitment to these principles is not uniform either and that only certain
world regions are actively participating in their implementation.