18 June 2016: A revised zero draft of the New Urban Agenda has been issued for consideration in the preparatory process for the UN Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development (Habitat III). The revised draft is based on input from informal hearings with local authorities associations, stakeholders, and two rounds of informal intergovernmental meetings. Habitat III will take place from 17-20 October 2016, in Quito, Ecuador.

The text includes the Quito Declaration on Sustainable Cities and Human Settlements for All, the the Quito Implementation Plan for the New Urban Agenda. The revised draft refers to how implementation of the New Urban Agenda will drive the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 11 (Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable), but excludes earlier references to a “paradigm shift.”

On a strengthened role for UN-Habitat, the new draft requests UN-Habitat to build on, complement and support the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development through the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) and the High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF). The new draft also includes stronger language on entrusting UN-Habitat to guide and drive the UN coordination on implementing the cities and human settlements dimensions of: the 2030 Agenda, including SDG 11; the Paris Agreement on climate change; and the Sendai Framework on Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) 2015-2030. It refers to UN-Habitat ensuring coordinated follow-up to, monitoring of and reporting on implementation of the New Urban Agenda, which underscores UN system-wide coordination and coherence on sustainable urbanization, within the framework of strategic planning, implementation and reporting.

The text refers to balanced sustainable and integrated territorial development and “territorial functions beyond the administrative boundaries,” which the earlier version did not include.

The revised draft also includes a provision on encouraging the UN General Assembly (UNGA) to consider convening Habitat IV in 2036 to assess implementation of the New Urban Agenda, and a midterm review in 2026.

The Habitat III preparatory process began in September 2014 and will culminate with the third session of the Preparatory Committee for Habitat III in Surabaya, Indonesia, in July 2016. [Revised Zero Draft of the New Urban Agenda (18 June)] [First Zero Draft of the New Urban Agenda (6 May)]

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