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HIC on Wold Habitat Day 2004: Cities Engines of Rural Development

For the international organisations during the past 30 years, the topic of the city has moved from being completely abandoned to being seen as the only engine of development. Change came about along with the fall of the Berlin Wall. Indeed, in 1996, the United Nations II Conference on Human Settlements was renamed the Summit of the Cities, relegating the problem of rural habitat, where a half the world’s population live in increasing eviction.

Local Actions Planned on Six Continents in October 2004

Decrying the growing gap between the Millenium Development Goals declared by the United Nations and the realities of war, forced evictions and spiraling slum growth experienced by the 1.2 billion slum dwellers and more than 100 million who are homeless, the Habitat International Coalition (HIC) today announced coordinated local actions for a “Right to Land and Housing Now” throughout October to protest the destructive impacts of neo-liberal development policies such as budget cuts, land speculation and privatization of social housing and utilities on people’s housing and land rights across the planet.