World Urban Forum III

17 June – 20 June 2006 Westin Bayshore Resort, Vancouver, Canada The World Urban Forum was established by the United Nations to examine one of the most pressing issues facing the world today: rapid urbanisation and its impact on communities, cities, economies and policies. It is projected that in the next fifty years, two-thirds of humanity will be living in towns and cities. A major challenge is to minimize burgeoning poverty in cities, improve the urban poor's access to basic facilities such as shelter, clean water and sanitation and achieve environment-friendly, sustainable urban growth and development. The World Urban Forum is a biennial gathering that is attended by a wide range of partners, from non-governmental organisations, community-based organisations, urban professionals, academics, to governments, local authorities and national and international associations of local governments. It gives all these actors a common platform to discuss urban issues in formal and informal ways and come up with action-oriented proposals to create sustainable cities. The third session of the World Urban Forum (WUFIII) will be hosted by the Government of Canada. It will take place in Vancouver, Canada, from 19 to 23 June 2006 and have as its main theme, Our Future: Sustainable Cities – Turning Ideas into Action. The number of people attending the World Urban Forum has risen sharply from 1,200 at the first World Urban Forum in Nairobi in 2002, to 4,400 at the second World Urban Forum in Barcelona in 2004. The Forum is successful because it differs from UN governing bodies. Since it is not legislative and does not follow the formal rules of procedure that usually govern official UN meetings, the working arrangements of the Forum are kept deliberately simple and relatively informal to generate a healthy and inclusive debate on urban issues. Participation is extremely open to allow effective dialogue between all actors working on urban issues. The UN-HABITAT WUFIII Secretariat relies heavily on the support of WUF Canada, established by the Government of Canada to assist with the organization of the Forum. WUF Canada is headed by Charles Kelly as Commissioner General; Michael Pearson, Deputy Commissioner General; Phil Heard, Chief Operating Officer; Freddie Franklin, Exhibition; Trish Maisonville, Logistics; and Nancy Wright, Conference and Communications. Link to WUF3 Canada website: http://www.wuf3-fum3.ca/