Chapter 1 - Preamble

Section 1 - Social & Economic Dimensions
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8

Section 2 - Conservation and Management of Resources

Section 3 - Strengthening the Role of Major Groups

Section 4 - Means of Implementation

Complete text of Agenda 21: Chapter 7
Chapter 7: Sustainable Human Settlements

By the year 2000, half the world’s people will be living in cities. The urbanization of society is part of the development process, and cities generate 60 per cent of gross national product.

A growing number of cities, however, are showing symptoms of the global environment and development crisis, ranging from air pollution to homeless street dwellers. In most developing countries, a lack of clean water and sanitation, leads to widespread ill-health and many preventable deaths each year.

To make urban life more sustainable, governments should see that the homeless poor and unemployed get access to land, credit and low-cost building materials. People also need the security of tenure and legal protection against unfair eviction. Informal settlements and urban slums should be upgraded to ease the deficit in urban shelter. All urban areas need such services as clean water, sanitation and waste collection, and higher income neighborhoods should pay the full cost of providing such services.

Construction programmes should emphasize local materials, energy efficient designs, materials that do not harm health and the environment, and labor intensive technologies that employ more people.

Transportation uses about 30 per cent of the world’s commercial energy production and consumes about 60 per cent of the world’s petroleum production. Exhaust gases pollute urban air with ground-level ozone, particulate matter, carbon monoxide and other gases, all of which harm our health. National action programmes are needed to promote energy-saving and renewable energy technologies, such as solar, hydro, wind and biomass. Transportation strategies should reduce the need for the motor vehicles by favouring high-occupancy public transport, and providing safe bicycle and footpaths. Municipalities need to be developed in ways that reduce the need for long-distance commuting.

Countries need to reduce urban poverty by supporting the informal economic sector, which operates many small businesses. Governments need to develop urban renewal projects in partnership with non-governmental organizations.

To reduce migration to the big cities, governments should improve rural living conditions and encourage the development of medium-sized cities that create employment and housing. Sound management is needed to prevent urban sprawl onto agricultural land and environmentally fragile regions.

It is also important to see that settlements are built in locations and using designs and materials that reduce the risk of damage from such natural disasters as storms, flooding, earthquakes and landslides.

Developing countries need financial and technical assistance to help train experts in such fields as urban planning, waste reduction, water quality, sanitation, energy efficiency and clean, efficient transportation.

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