GIS Implementation in Developing Countries- A United Nations Perspective by Terry Standley, Senior Regional Advisor, Asia Region, United Nations Center for Human Settlements (UNCHS), Bangkok, Thailand. | Abstract Of The Paper & The Profile of The Speaker | Speaker Index | Paper Title Index | A. Introduction On behalf of the United Nations Centre for Human Settlements, the author wishes to offer appreciation for the support Qatar and specifically the Centre for GIS is giving to projects implemented by this agency in several developing countries. National representatives from some of these projects have been invited to this Conference and the projects are benefiting from Qatar GIS training courses both in-country and here in Doha. It should also be made clear at the outset that the invitation to make a presentation was not on the basis of any technical expertise in the field of GIS and GPS on the part of the author. In fact, the organisers did say that it would be useful to have someone presenting a paper who would not be concentrating on specific new developments and applications, was a "non-computer expert" (to use the terminology from the title of another paper at this Conference), but could perhaps provide some insights for a better understanding of the broader development context. The paper draws mainly on the experiences of UNCHS (Habitat), and particularly the technical cooperation activities in Asia. It does not claim comprehensive coverage, even within this single UN agency. The emphasis is on urban GIS and related data management components of projects. Programmes supported by other agencies addressing systems with a global and regional scope are therefore not included, although the relevant activities of ESCAP, the regional body for Asia and the Pacific have been summarised. In order to deepen an understanding of what UNCHS (Habitat) is and what it does, an institutional overview is first presented, which also provides descriptions of other agencies referred to in the paper. Some background is then given on how UNCHS (Habitat) started its involvement in urban data management, following by an annotated listing by region of all recently completed or ongoing projects/programmes having a GIS or related information system component. A selection from this list, supplemented by several examples from other agencies, is next used to give a more detailed picture of the range of the activities and the role of GIS within projects. In each case, the overall project context is described rather than concentrating solely on the GIS content, which is often comparatively small in terms of the proportion of the budget and the human resource inputs. On the basis of the lessons learnt in executing these projects and the views of the author's colleagues in the field, some tentative conclusions are then presented. Finally, a summary of various UN statistics highlighting global urbanisation trends is accompanied by a commentary on the outcome of the 1996 Habitat II UN conference, with a note on some of the implications for GIS. B. The UN Institutional Framework Taking account of the manner in which the UN system as a whole is currently under the spotlight and the confusion often surrounding the roles of individual agencies, it would be helpful to set the scene by providing an overview of the United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (UNCHS) - alternatively known as Habitat, or officially in combination as UNCHS (Habitat), together with brief descriptions of several of the other agencies involved. As a result of the first UN Conference on Human Settlements held in Vancouver in 1976, the UN Commission on Human Settlements was established as a new intergovernmental body and UNCHS (Habitat) was created as the secretariat to service the Commission. Both the Commission and the Centre were mandated to assist member states in the management and development of human settlements. They were charged to carry out this mandate through an integrated programme of policy advice, applied research, technical cooperation and information dissemination. The Commission serves as the governing body, providing overall policy guidance, setting priorities and giving the direction for the UN's human settlements programme. It has a membership of 58 countries, elected for four year terms by the UN Economic and Social Council. The Centre's organisational structure consists of three main divisions dealing with technical cooperation, research and development, and information. Staff at headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya, number around 250 with over 500 staff and consultants in the field. Through the Technical Cooperation Division, the operational activities of the UNCHS (Habitat) are focused on supporting governments in the formulation of policies and strategies to create and strengthen a self-reliant management capacity at both the national and local levels. Technical and managerial expertise is provided for the assessment of human settlements development constraints and opportunities; the identification and analysis of policy options; the design and implementation of housing and urban development projects; the identification and analysis of policy options; and the mobilization of national resources as well as external support for improving human settlements conditions. This national capacity-building process includes not only central government institutions but also other stakeholders such as community-based and non-governmental organizations, universities and research institutions, as well as local governments and municipalities. Emphasis is also placed upon strengthening governments' monitoring capacities in human settlements management. There are currently around 200 technical cooperation programmes and projects, with a total annual budget of some $30 million, throughout 90 countries, including global and regional activities. Roughly 55 percent of the financing of these technical cooperation projects comes from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), with the remainder from host government and third party (usually bilateral country aid agencies) cost-sharing, and with less than 10 percent from the Centre's own resources. In supporting these operational activities, UNCHS (Habitat) is fully committed to the goals of maximizing the use of national expertise and to supporting both national execution and procurement from developing countries. By the mid 1990's around 65 percent of the project personnel were national experts. The small office in Bangkok which the author directly represents is an outreach of the Nairobi Technical Cooperation Division serving the Asia-Pacific Region. From 1996, a decentralization process was introduced, with the unit within this Division responsible for Latin America and the Caribbean moving to Rio de Janeiro, and the Asia-Pacific unit scheduled to relocate from Nairobi to Japan in mid 1997. Other agencies specifically referred to in this paper in relation to their involvement in either the financing, execution and coordination of GIS and related urban information/data management systems are the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United Nations Office for Project Service (UNOPS) and the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP). The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is the United Nations main source of grants for human development. It was created in 1965 through a merger of two programmes for United Nations technical cooperation. Funds come from the voluntary contributions of Member States of the UN and its agencies, which provide about $1 billion yearly to UNDP's central resources. A 36-member Executive Board composed of both developed and developing countries approves major programmes and policy decisions. Through a worldwide network of 136 offices, UNDP works with governments, organizations of civil society and people in some 175 developing countries and territories. To execute the projects and programmes it supports, it draws upon developing countries' national technical capacities, as well as the expertise of over 30 sister UN bodies and other international and regional agencies and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). UNDP normally plays the chief coordinating role for operational development activities undertaken by the whole United Nations system. This includes administering special-purpose funds such as the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF), the United Nations Volunteers (UNV), and the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM). UNDP assists developing countries in preparing for major United Nations conferences - for example the 1992 Conference on Environment and Development, the 1995 World Summit for Social Development, the 1995 World Conference on Women, and the 1996 Habitat II Conference. It then assists those countries in carrying out the action plans of those conferences, and in mobilizing the additional resources needed to do so. The UN office for Project Services (UNOPS) is a service delivery organisation whose income derives solely from the programme and project execution activities provided to multilateral and bilateral donors, and developing countries. It operates at the global level and cuts across all sectors and specialisations. UNOPS manages all aspects of projects including hiring, contracting, equipment procurement and financial administration, and has the capacity to organise training programmes. Annual value of project inputs managed by UNOPS amounts to around $500 million out of a multi-year portfolio worth $1,000 million, of which UNDP projects account for some 40%. The Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) was established in 1947 as the Economic Commission for Asia and the Far East (ECAFE). Its original mandate was to assist in the reconstruction efforts of countries devastated by war. Subsequently, the Commission's orientation was shifted to development. The change from "ECAFE" to "ESCAP" in 1974 highlighted the Commission's responsibilities in the field of social development as well as its broader geographical scope to include the countries and territories of the Pacific. Its mandate was broadened further in 1977 by the UN General Assembly which recognized ESCAP and other regional commissions as the main general economic and social development centres within the United Nations system for their respective regions and as executing agencies for inter-country development projects in their own right. ESCAP is the largest of the five regional commissions. It currently comprises 48 members and 10 associate members representing 58 per cent of the global population. It constitutes a unique forum for governments in the Asia-Pacific region, in addition to its role as a "think-tank" and catalyst for major regional ventures such as the Asian Development Bank and the Asian Highway network. The role of ESCAP as an intergovernmental forum assumes particular significance in the absence of any other institutional arrangement for the region-wide, high-level political assembly of governments. At the ministerial-level, the Commission provides an opportunity for governments to meet every year to review and discuss economic and social issues in order to promote and strengthen regional cooperation - a basic mandate and major concern of the Commission. ESCAP's in-house multi-disciplinary capability provides a wide range of technical assistance, focusing chiefly on direct advisory services to Governments, training and pooling of regional experience and information through meetings, publications and intercountry networks. From the above commentary on three agencies (one with a specialised global mandate for the whole range of human settlements activities, one with a non-specific non-thematic role but operating globally in the provision of project management services and one with a general multi-sectoral mandate for a specific region), it is clear that there exist opportunities for constructive partnerships. Conversely the possibilities for duplication and competition are also there. Particularly in such a multi-disciplinary field as human settlements, the need for continuous close consultation and flexibility in developing inter-agency relationships is paramount. Other agencies which offer UNCHS (Habitat) the opportunities for mutually-supportive relationships in the field of human settlements are: the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), the World Health Organization (WHO), the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, (UNESCO), the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), the International Labour Organisation (ILO), and the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), which shares certain administrative services with UNCHS (Habitat) and also has its headquarters in Nairobi. C. The Involvement of UNCHS (Habitat) in Urban Data Management This agency's involvement with the transfer of spatial data technology to developing countries as part of the UN's technical cooperation work commenced as early as 1976, when its predecessor organization, The Centre for Housing, Building and Planning (CHBP) in New York, was asked by the Government of Saudi Arabia to evaluate a digital cartographic system for the Ministry of Municipal Affairs. The $7 million project would have been the first use such methods in urban data management in the Middle East. However, the UN project review team rejected, on various grounds, the proposal and advised the Government of Saudi Arabia to seek other vendors and systems. After revisions, the Ministry of Municipal Affairs retained another vendor in 1978. The project met with limited success because the available technology could not support the database sizes required for the base maps. In 1977, CHBP was requested by India to provide advisory assistance to the Government Town Planner for a strategy to introduce computer technology into urban physical planning. This mission resulted in one of the first presentations of GIS to be considered for urban planning in the sub-continent. Soon after its establishment as a new agency, UNCHS (Habitat) released in 1979 the first UN publication specifically concerned with urban data management and GIS. Because this publication was so well received in the developing countries, a global project was initiated in 1980 to maintain on a continuing basis an urban data management inter-regional adviser on the Centre's staff in Nairobi. This adviser provided technical consulting services on urban data management, particularly in the area of GIS, to most of the member states of the UN. For many governments, this was their first exposure to GIS for urban planning and management. The project was one of the few UN technology transfer activities that has provided technical advisory services to both developing and developed countries. By 1984, over 35 member states already had taken advantage of the advisory services. In 1979 and 1980, UNCHS (Habitat) supported two major urban projects in South Asia, one in Bangladesh and the other in Sri Lanka. Both of those projects implemented GIS urban data management technologies for the first time in the South Asian region. In Bangladesh, raster-type GIS software was used in conjunction with SPOT data to analyze 12 towns throughout the country. In Sri Lanka, the Colombo Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) Project introduced information systems and spatial data analysis on a minicomputer as the first non-bookkeeping application in the city government. One of the driving technological innovations for the Centre's urban data management projects has been the low-cost availability of microcomputers (PCs). Starting in 1980, UNCHS (Habitat) developed and distributed free of charge to any government agency the Urban Data Management Software (UDMS) package. At that time, this was the only operational software for PCs available to carry out spatial data analysis and thematic mapping. It provided governments with a hands-on approach to GIS at the project level. Between 1981 and 1983, UNCHS ran a series of microcomputer training workshops using the UDMS package to demonstrate GIS-type applications. Those workshops, which were held in Colombia, India, the Philippines, Jamaica, Argentina, and Finland, offered many planners in those regions their first exposure to personal computing technology and the use of the technology in a GIS environment. UDMS was distributed in four versions until the late 1980s, when it was superseded by commercial software, such as PC ARC/INFO and MAPINFO. Based on the UN's technology transfer programs in the personal computing field, IBM Corporation prepared and distributed at no charge "The IBM PC Guide to Software for Developing Countries." This Guide was a compilation of all available software packages for use in development that were available free of charge or at nominal cost from the UN or bilateral donors. it was published in two editions between 1984 and 1989. Beginning in the late 1980s, the technical cooperation field projects executed by UNCHS (Habitat) and usually funded by UNDP, have increasingly incorporated directly a digital mapping or related GIS component, or have indirectly made use of services available through headquarters, other UN agencies, parallel projects of other aid organisations, or through the host governments. A search was made specifically for this conference paper for the projects/programme with a significant urban data management component, executed by UNCHS (Habitat), since the mid 1980s, covering both ongoing and completed activities. The following annotated list of 34 items includes all those with such components formally incorporated and financed through the project concerned. To facilitate reference for those who may wish to obtain original project documentation, the official project title and number is provided. If a more intensive analysis were made to identify those contributing to or drawing upon GIS and related mapping and information services in governments or parallel technical cooperation projects, the list would need to be considerably expanded. GLOBAL 1. Development of Urban Environment Data by using Satellite Data and Geographic Information Systems, (GLO/90/F01) - Review of state-of-the art GIS techniques, country case studies: report preparation in support of the Urban Management Programme. 2. Sustainable Cities Programme, (GLO/90/F01) - Providing municipal authorities with improved environmental planning and management capacity and designed to promote the sharing of expertise and lessons of experience. Working initially in 17 cities and, as minor component, contributing information on GIS needs and application experiences to other programmes. 3. Indicators Programme, (GLO/90/F08) - Establishing tools to measure shelter and urban development performance, in collaboration with the World Bank. Mainly relying on computerized statistical data management but likely in the future to include geographical attributes with GIS applications. 4. Settlement Upgrading Programme, (IT/GLO/94/T05) - Establishing an inter- national reference framework for the improvement of low-income settlements, including the development of an integrated computer application for the information needs of upgrading. Action research and testing of the GIS Visual Settlement Planning Approach (VisP). 5. Urban Management Programme (INT/86/006, GLO/94/F08) - Since inception in 1986, this is now the in the third phase of what is the largest multi-agency technical support programme in urban development, concentrating on capacity-building within the thematic framework of finance, infrastructure, environment and poverty alleviation. Minor but influential GIS/LIS components. AFRICA 6. Development of Urban Centres - Burundi, (BDI/85/010) - Establishing databank with computer applications within an urban structure planning process. 7. Pilot Metropolitan Development Programme for Accra - Ghana, GHA/87/005 - Preparing inter-sectoral guidelines for the development of the Greater Accra Metropolitan Area, incorporating a operational data management system. 8. Implementation of Physical Development Plans - Malawi, (MLW/88/040) - Setting up machinism and systems for implementing and monitoring physical development involving a database and information system with procurement of computer hardware/software. ASIA AND THE PACIFIC 9. Urban Management Programme for Asia and the Pacific, (RAS/92/011) - A partnership of four programmes involving the Asia-Pacific branch of the global Urban Management Programme together with components executed by ESCAP, the World Bank and UNOPS. Peripheral GIS content but an important networking opportunity. 10. Afghanistan Rehabilitation Programme, (AFG/93/002) - Urban works programme in the war-damaged cities of Kabul, Herat and Mazar i Sharif, with strong community participation element and incorporating the development and application of a GIS package now marketed internationally. 11. Metropolitan Development Planning - Bangladesh, (BGD/88/052) - Support for a range of plan production levels in the two major cities of Dhaka and Chittagong, with a heavy GIS component, involving installation of a GIS facility in a technical university in addition to in-house facilities in the Development Authorities in each city. 12. Strengthening Capacities for Urban Management and Human Settlements Sector Planning - Bhutan, (BHU/96/004) - Updating national sector review and formulation of human settlements strategy in parallel with support for development planning in the two major cities and with policy/legal reforms for land administration and municipal finance, supported by installation of GIS facilities with associated in-country and overseas GIS training programme. 13. Strengthening Institutions Responsible for Planning and Implementing Urban Development - Lao PDR, (LAO/89/002) - Developing the technical capacity for urban planning, incorporating a major component for establishing an in-house digital mapping facility as the basis for an urban GIS using small format aerial photography. 14. Yangon City and Regional Development - Myanmar, (MYA/85/016) - Addressing critical issues in housing delivery, planning methodology and water/sanitation systems, supported by the establishment of a GIS unit involving an intensive training programme. 15. Strengthening of the Planning Process: Karachi Master Plan 1986-2000 - Pakistan, (PAK/86/029) - An innovative approach using mathematical modelling for development planning based on exhaustive data collection, and processing, and supported by digital mapping. 16. Development of Land Information Database - Singapore, (SIN/87/003) - Assistance in standardising databases and information systems and the introduction of the necessary technical and administrative mechanisms to facilitate pooling and exchange of data; integrating topographic, land use and infrastructure information. 17. Landslide Hazard Mapping - Sri Lanka (SRL/89/001) - Providing information on degree of hazard for homestead and marginal lands, with early detection training and socio-economic surveys among residents in landslide-prone locations. Opportunities for developing specialized GIS in project follow-on activities. 18. Regional Urban Development Programme - Thailand, (THA/93/003) - Supporting the implementation of national decentralization policies through a wide-ranging programme of training and advisory services, including the establishment of GIS pilot facilities in selected secondary cities. 19. Strengthening the Capacity for Utility Mapping in Ho Chi Minh City - Viet Nam, (VIE/93/014) - Training, in-country workshops, international short-term fellowships and advisory services in support of GIS institutional development, installation of GIS facility and the implementation of integrated GIS pilot areas as basis for formulating city-wide utilities mapping and data management programme. 20. Strengthening the Capacity for Urban Management and Planning in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City - Viet Nam, (VIE/95/050, VIE/95/051) - Supporting the multi-sectoral planning and investment programming process in each city, and developing participatory project design and implementation capacities, together with the establishment of networked management information systems linked to the expansion and refinement of existing pilot GIS facilities. LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN 21. Assistance to GIS Development in the Eastern, Caribbean, (CAR/91/F02) - Reviewing status of information systems, developing proposals for GIS system configuration, while building on the earlier Caribbean Human Settlements Programme (CAR/89/006) and assistance to the British Virgin Islands. 22. Physical Planning and Environmental Conservation - Antigua and Barbuda, (ANT/92/001) - Establishing intersectoral consultation mechanisms and assessment of information needs leading to setting up GIS facility, together with preparation of special area plans and review of development control procedures. 23. Urban Development of El Alto City - Bolivia, (BOL/88/020) - Improving environmental and service conditions, assessing needs and sources for databank, establishing computer centre and GIS with new map production and urban cadastre system capability. 24. Pilot Project for the Development of Spatial Data Bases - British Virgin Islands, (BVI/91/001)- Demonstrating GIS applications including mapping and automated management services, leading to installation of digital spatial database and graphics workstation. 25. Physical Planning - Grenada, (GRN/91/001) - Preparing base maps using satellite imagery in support of formulation of national spatial development strategy and environmental impact assessments. 26. Land Titling - Jamaica, (JAM/86/008) - Upgrading of facilities of Lands office and Registry of Titles, with setting up of computerized land information system. 27. Strengthening Town Planning Department - Jamaica, (JAM/90/009) - Preparing urban plans and national spatial development strategy, improving town planning and building legislation, establishing network for land information and installing computerized system for managing planning information/data. 28. Standard Cadastre System for the Municipal Level - Nicaragua, (NIC/92/002) - Developing institutional mechanism and legal framework, including property taxation system, and setting up integrated system of digital cadastral maps. 29. Data Management for Town and Country Planning - Trinidad and Tobago, (TRI/86/006) - Developing and installing a computer-based planning system together with personnel training. ARAB STATES AND EUROPE 30. Assistance to the Preparation and Finalization of the National Land Use Plan - Bahrain, (BAH/87/002, BHU/89/F01) - Preparing National Plan to year 2000, in context of institutional strengthening, with training in micro-computer applications in human settlements planning and management. 31. Sustainable Growth and Development in Ismailia - Egypt, (EGY/91/030) - Formulating strategies and action planning, establishing environmental information system and producing updated mapping based on satellite imagery. 32. Institutional Support to Dubai Municipality - UAE, (UAE/92/002) - Complementing and maintaining momentum of earlier phase, designed to comprehensively address urban management with emphasis on organizational and staffing structure, with management improvements to wide range of service departments, including land administration supported by GIS development. 33. Computer System for Ministry of Public Works and Settlement - Turkey, (TUR/88/F01) - Establishing coordination mechanism for computerization and needs assessment, specifying and installing hardware/software, supported by training programmes. 34. Assistance to Areas Affected by Chernobyl Accident - Belarus, (USR/91/F01) - Assisting Town Planning Institute in revising territorial development plan, introducing advanced technologies and methods and setting up computer-based data management for town planning. D. Selected Project Descriptions The following eleven examples are taken from the list of UNCHS (Habitat) projects in order to demonstrate the manner in which the GIS or related data management components can either constitute the sole function of a project, such the Liberian, Nepal and ESCAP cases, or can form important support functions such as in Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan. Use of GIS in special emergency circumstances is also described in the case of Afghanistan and Liberia. A further example of a stand alone UNCHS (Habitat) GIS project is that supporting utilities mapping in Ho Chi Minh City, described in another conference paper: "Transferability of the Qatar Enterprise GIS Model - Experience in Viet Nam and Jamaica". Two cases of projects executed by UNOPS and one by ESCAP are used to supplement the UNCHS (Habitat) material. Rather than concentrate on the GIS technical content, each description provides a degree of development background and emphasises the overall project operational context. In this way, an attempt is made to gain some understanding of the way in which often highly complex projects integrate GIS as a supporting service for achieving broader objectives. It will also serve the purpose of identifying future openings for the introduction or strengthening of GIS activities. This would particularly apply to the global Urban Management Programme. Development of GIS and Development Applications - Liberia This project, executed in early 1996 by the UN Office for Project Services (UNOPS), was designed to meet the needs of basic planning information for humanitarian relief and reconstruction projects. Previously, the aid community based in Monrovia was relying on maps redrawn by hand each time updates were needed for project activity plans. There had been no way to effectively analyse the spatial relationships of critical factors influencing reconstruction efforts. Using the Africa Data Sampler (ADS), a digital database developed by PADCO (the consultancy company involved) for the World Resources Institute, it was possible to establish a networked GIS with three workstations and a baseline data-base within one month, and to then quickly create new geographic data files by linking additional data from local sources, such as the numbers of displaced populations in Camps, to geographic features from ADS baseline data files. Throughout this process, Liberian UN staff were trained in basic GIS operations, such as data entry, data editing, spatial analysis, and map production. This new UNOPS GIS was rapidly becoming the central information system within the Liberian humanitarian community. UN agencies and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) were bringing their data to UNOPS to be incorporated into the GIS in order to meet their specific information needs. By the end of the second month of the consultancy, at least 35 agencies had received more than 250 copies of maps produced by the GIS, describing such information as the geographic distribution of relief activities by sector and agency, the distribution of internally displaced populations, and the location and condition of basic infrastructure, such as roads. Following the April 1996 renewal of the civil war, most of the humanitarian assistance infrastructure, including the offices in Monrovia containing the GIS equipment was destroyed. Pre-fighting data sources were rendered obsolete by the changes in the distribution and densities of refugee populations. National staff trained in GIS applications and operations had fled Monrovia or left the country. Despite these setbacks and in the face of the need to carry out new surveys, to form a new team and re-establish the GIS facility, the expert involved made the following statement later in the year having been forced to leave and evacuated by the US Air Force. "On the positive side, the experience of applying PADCO GIS capabilities to Liberia's relief and reconstruction effort before fighting resumed showed how much GIS technology has to offer these types of situations. Unfortunately, violent civil unrest and refugees have become more frequent around the world. Nevertheless, all civil unrest shares two things, whether in Liberia or anywhere else in the world: there is less relief assistance available than is needed, and the spatial characteristics of the country's needs constantly change because of the fluidity of the situation. Therefore, for the international humanitarian community to have any reasonable level of success in dealing with its relief efforts, it will need to improve its ability to quickly develop, update, and apply strategic information to direct its limited abilities to those areas with the greatest need and greatest potential for success. The work for UNOPS in Liberia showed that this can be done quickly and effectively using the capabilities that GIS offers. We are hopeful that this approach can be applied to similar situations to provide information needed to increase the effectiveness of humanitarian relief and reconstruction efforts." Afghanistan Urban Rehabilitation Programme This programme executed by UNCHS (Habitat) involves a wide range of partners including both bilateral aid organisations and other UN agencies. Building on previous activities started in 1988, the current programme is based on the premise that well-conceived rehabilitation assistance can serve as an instrument of reconciliation between communities affected by conflict. The primary objective is to support an indigenous process of repair and recovery in the cities of Kabul, Herat and Mazari Sharif. In response to a complex set of needs, two tiers of activities are being undertaken. The Neighborhood Action Programme provides support for community-managed and implemented small-scale improvements to water supplies, access and drainage, creating employment through labor-intensive construction methods. In parallel, the Infrastructure Repair Programme supports priority medium-scale works in close collaboration with government technical departments, addressing not only immediate needs but also developing urban management capacities within the affected institutions. Compared with many such rehabilitation programmes, mapping as a tool for planning and analysis is particularly advanced. Its uses range from conventional topographical and engineering applications to more community-oriented initiatives. Special GIS software was developed in the field in Afghanistan and also in collaboration with several other institutions, notably the World Conservation (IUCN) and the Centre Agronomic Tropical del Investigation del Ensenanza (CATIE). Known as the Map Maker project, this now has registered users in 38 countries. The brochure publicising Map Maker has the sub-title instruction of: PLEASE PIRATE THIS SOFTWARE It is free for non-profit making organisations, students and academics, and is described in the brochure as: "A simple Geographical Information system (GIS) designed to allow non-expert users to create and manipulate maps. Using a variety of tools you can navigate around the map, measure distances and areas, draw polygons, lines, and symbols, and display and edit data. Graphic objects on the map may be related to data in a database, and databases may be created directly from the map. You can print maps directly onto any printer or plotter fully supported by Windows 3.1, and you can produce images for inclusion in documents produced using compatible Windows word processors, such as Microsoft Word, Word Perfect, and Lotus Ami-Pro." "You can use scanned images, in color or black and white, import vector graphics as DXF files from many programme such as Suto CAD, or import other vector formats from ArcInfo, Atlas GIS, MapInfo. or WHO's EpiMap. In addition, Map Maker has a number of tools to help you make your own field surveys. Users with no previous experience of surveying can map a field, a forest path, an urban development, or objects on an archaeological site" "Interactive "hyper-maps" can be created by linking maps to text or third party programs, enabling users to design educational tools and "expert" systems." "People with full access to Internet may download the programme files of Map Maker. There are also demonstration files and simple base maps of most of the countries of Africa, Asia and Latin America. Since Map Maker was put on the World Wide Web in April 1995 over 6,000 people have logged onto the World Wide Web site. Many of the registered users have distribute copies to colleagues and students who do not have their own access to Internet." Within an overall current value for the Afghanistan programme of some $8 million, (covering capital investments and technical assistance), the expenditure on software development was around $35,000, with hardware purchases $20,000, initial training $5,000, ongoing GIS training and institutional development $20,000. All copies of the Map Maker program and documentation may be copied freely Enquiries should be sent to: Eric Dudley 64 Tenison Road, Cambridge, CB1 2DW,UK Fax : 44-1223-350349 E-mail eric@dudley.win-uk.net The Visual Settlement Planning Approach Starting in 1991, UNCHS (Habitat), in cooperation with the Technical Research Centre of Finland (VTT), developed a new approach for urban planners called "Visual Settlement Planning" (ViSP). This work, which started originally as an urban planning exercise, also serves new areas closely related to urban planning, such as disaster management. It incorporates both statistical and graphical data into a portable format using a micro-computer workstation which includes as its basic components a high-resolution screen, optical memory drive, multicolour scanner, slide scanner and multicolour printer/plotter. UNCHS (Habitat) has helped in building the user interface for developing countries, making it possible for planners to operate the system with a minimum of training. The VisP approach, using off-the-shelf hardware and software, can use satellite images, aerial photographs, normal slides and photographs, and video images as input thus advancing the traditional methods of physical planning. Also contour lines can be put in over an aerial photo, video image or satellite image. Explanatory text can be shown on the images such as areas prone to flooding, land slides or lava flows, and components can be highlighted for example by numbering buildings. Close-ups can also be imaged, or maps brought in from AUTOCAD or MIPS to overlay the video image. Using a "paintbrush like" facility, the picture can be retouched, for example by pointing out buildings which would easily collapse in an earthquake or by drawing a scenario of a major disaster over a high-risk residential area. Global Positioning Systems can be linked to ViSP for accurately locating buildings, bridges and other landmarks. This frees the user from the problem of not being able to link the images and photos to the coordinate system. Geometrical image rectification can be done before the digitizing work from full-color images is started. The material generated can be viewed on the computer screen, through a video projector, a normal multi-system tv-set, or printed out to share with other planners, decision-making bodies, and the community. Possibilities for increased community participation, public awareness and the constant monitoring of squatter settlement growth are introduced and the system is specifically designed to be used in projects dealing with - urban management, - physical planning, - squatter-settlement upgrading, - geographical information systems (GIS), and - disasters (natural or man-made) ViSP is being field-tested in Kenya and Brazil through the UNCHS Settlement Upgrading Programme (SUP), a global initiative in partnership with the Government of Italy. The medium to long-term objective is to set in place a GIS and thematic mapping capability for settlement improvement projects and disaster mitigation in urban areas of developing countries. It is envisaged that this capability will be available at UNCHS (Habitat) in the form of a mobile unit and that the new technology will be made available free of charge to interested member countries. The implementation strategy that has been adopted for the Kenya test is to build on the work already done by the Kenya Pilot Project (KPP), part of the City Data Programme. The KPP is currently being executed in eight pilot cities in Kenya. The Brazilian Government enquired in 1993 about the possibility of using ViSP in its foveola (informal settlement) upgrading programme, one of the main components Brazil's national housing policy. A mission was sent to Brazil and ViSP demonstrations were held in the cities of Belo Horizonte and Salvador - the latter during an international seminar on settlement upgrading. The necessary arrangement are being made for the selection of Belo Horizonte, the capital city of the Brazilian State of Minas Gerais, as one of the pilot cities of SUP. In the significant effort that has been made by Belo Horizonte in the last ten years to upgrade its foveolas (which has involved the development of an original computer application), the Italian Government has been an important partner. A major new development in this partnership is the upgrading project known as Alvorada, which was launched in 1994, with the involvement of the University of Bologna and of the Italian NGO, AVSI. The settlement upgrading activities of Italian development Cooperation in Belo Horizonte are offering a window of opportunity for joint development work. SUP is already informally providing technical guidance for the purchase and installation of ViSP equipment by the Alvorada project. It is envisaged that a Brazilian technician will take part as an intern in the field testing of ViSP in Kenya. Furthermore, after the formal designation of Belo Horizonte as a SUP Pilot City, joint research work with the University of Bologna and Brazilian counterparts is being carried out with the objective of developing an integrated computer application based on ViSP for settlement upgrading. The ViSP press release: UNCHS (HABITAT) Introduces Innovative Monitoring And Planning Tool  Are the environmental authorities of your country faced by any of the follow challenges? - The uncontrolled expansion of cities is leading to contamination of soft, water, air pollution or loss of vegetation. - The vegetative cover of an area has changed and new detailed information is needed for the purpose of soil- conservation activities. - A natural disaster has suddenly affected a settlement and urgent action is needed to assess the area of impact and to plan for rehabilitation and reconstruction. - An industrial accident has contaminated a large area which needs to be cordoned off and plans need to be developed for do-contamination and rehabilitation. If your answer is positive, then the environmental authorities may find quick and inexpensive help from the United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (Habitat). UNCHS (Habitat) has introduced a new approach called ViSP (Visual Settlement Planning), which also has a potential to help in solving environmental problems. The leading principle of ViSP is the ability to combine large quantities of various data in very compact form on optical disks. Satellite images, aerial photographs or video films, slides, paper maps, statistics, text, drawings ect. can be used and freely enlarged or reduced in size, or superimposed on each other. The system components are not novel in themselves, but the approach, which was originally developed by the Technical Research Centre of Finland (VTT), presents unique package of commercially available hardware and software using optical disks for data storage. The system costs are remarkably less than those of earlier components with equal functions. The configuration can be acquired today at $US 40,000, while advanced input/output facilities would bring the cost up to US$75,000. The ViSP approach was originally launched at the thirteenth session of the Commission on Human Settlements at Harare in April/May 1991 and its use has since been demonstrated in local conditions in several developing and developed countries. As with all modern microcomputer systems, ViSP is transportable and user-friendly. Training of personnel can take place in a few weeks and no previous experience in using computers is required. Imagery is entered into the system in a few days or weeks, depending on the size of the exercise. The basic hardware for one workstation is a standard IBM-compatible portable or desktop microcomputer, which is complemented by an optical memory drive, a graphics board, multisync screen, a scanner and a graphics printer. UNCHS (Habitat) suggests ViSP for use in projects in urban management, squatter-settlement upgrading land inventories and physical planning. Many tasks that used to take months or even years, can now be carried out in much shorter time. A major advantage is that the planning process can be started on the basis of images even in the absence of any base maps. When a ViSP workstation is fully operational and all data have been entered, various charts, drawings or plans of target areas can be produced in a very short time. The flexibility of this new approach makes it possible, and even easy - for decision-makers, news media, NGOs etc. to visualize various planning alternatives and this promote public participation to an unprecedented level. Strengthening Institutions Responsible for Urban Development - Lao People's Democratic Republic Within this broad-based UNDP/UNCHS (Habitat) project addressing planning systems and human resource development, a subcontract was commissioned for Base Map Production and Small Format Aerial Photography (SFAP). This involved in-service training and overseas study visits and the establishment of a production unit within government, including equipment/software procurement. The set of tasks identified in order to achieve the development of the technology was: - data acquisition needed for maps using SFAP - transfer of data to map forms with digital methods and PCs - providing ground control survey information, - production of appropriate large-scale town maps with PC technology, whether thematic maps for town planning and cadastre purposes, or geodetically accurate maps for utilities planning and land/plot readjustment projects, by a) direct digital transfer from enlarged aerial photography and b) high survey accuracy maps using the ADAM MPS-2. Mapping outputs have directly supported the plan formulation for the historic capital, Luang Phrabang, which contributed to the designation by UNESCO of this town as a World Heritage Site, and also the detailed rehabilitation of an area within Vientiane, the modern capital. Both the mapping system, which allows overall control by the in-house planning institute team (using helicopter and light aircraft) and the historic conservation programme for Luang Phrabang were selected as global best practices for the 1996 Istanbul Habitat II Conference. Although the training and initial production process was successfully accomplished as a sustainable process, the subcontractors noted in their 1994 final report the need to enhance capacities for applying the system to wider GIS/LIS applications, particularly with respect to land titling. It was also pointed out that, as is often the case in such projects, town planning sections and the map projection unit needed to more closely integrate their functions to achieve maximum advantage from the new techniques, and that government would need to consider adjusting job descriptions and the salary scales to take account of the new skills obtained and the increase in institutional capacities. Karachi Master Plan, 1986-2000 This UNDP/UNCHS (Habitat) project, completed in 1991, provided technical assistance to the Karachi Development Authority (KDA) in refining the planning process and adopting new tools which would make the process more responsive and dynamic in the face of physical and socio-economic change. The new approach and tools are based on a computerized set of urban indicators and an urban growth model which can be used to project impacts under varying policy assumptions. The local and city-wide information in the database enabled a series of models to be effectively developed, simulating the growth of Karachi through the year 2000 under three basic scenarios; trend, expansion and consolidation. Evaluation resulted in consolidation being selected as providing the best chance of achieving the city's development objectives. Using this scenario, broad policies and more detailed strategies were proposed. During project formulation, government recognized that the inadequacies in urban mapping for Karachi posed a severe constraint to the urban development and management process. The KDA was therefore also assisted by the project in the acquisition of modern mapmaking techniques and equipment using a combination of traditional and new computer-based digital methods. A set of 18 urban indicators was designed and presented as Zonal Profiles for all 58 of the city's planning/analysis zones. Specific modelling covered land use demand/supply, infrastructure/utilities and financial summaries. All models were implemented using standard spreadsheet software. Although the original description of outputs to be produced included an operational digital-based mapping system to replace the existing mapping, as is often the case, it was found that the mapping system was not well-established and productivity remained (even by the close of the project) far below the potential. As an ambitious project where a GIS initiative was a subsidiary component serving a complex mathematical modelling system, some of the lessons identified in evaluating the overall implementation experience were: - The need for more than just the provision of equipment for the Land Survey Unit to reach satisfactory production levels. It was unrealistic to expect staff (whether local or international) with no prior experience in digital mapping to establish an effective facility within one to two years, and without having intensive experience in managing the technological and institutional processes involved in changing mapping systems - The effects of security restrictions which deny access to maps and prohibit the publishing of maps. - The importance of convincing officials to accept the development philosophy that information should be freely shared without bureaucratic or price barriers. This problem was seen as stemming partly from shortage of resources (it is difficult to give away freely what one has spent money on to acquire and process), and partly from the highly competitive operating environment of government agencies within the city. Recommendations at the close of the project included further technical assistance in order to enhance sustainability in the following areas: - Upgrading of the computer database to refine certain operational aspects and to introduce modifications as required for the next annual planning cycle - Digital mapping, with the provision of a resident adviser - Definition of Immediate Action Programmes - Remote sensing, with advice on urban land use analysis and mapping using SPOT data, and on establishing institutional and procedural linkage with the Pakistan national space agency, SUPARCO. The project budget covering the UNDP contribution over four years was US$1.7 million, of which all types of equipment accounted for US$328,000, technical assistance subcontracts: US$803,000 and other individual advisers/consultants US$370,000. Metropolitan Development Planning - Bangladesh This UNDP/UNCHS (Habitat) project has been one of the UN's major urban interventions at the country level, designed for a five year implementation period with a UNDP contribution of US$ 6.6 million. The aim was to support the cities of Dhaka and Chittagong in preparing integrated development plans, priority sectoral master plans and selected detailed area plans. These outputs were supported by an in-country and international training programme and the establishment of management and planning information systems. The project closed in early 1996. Separate GIS facilities were set up in each city and in a technical university. In order to provide a summary of the achievements and the lessons learnt with respect to the GIS component, the following edited extracts from final reports are provided. a) Considerable early effort was necessarily focused on Dhaka map and satellite data conversions, and map production to support plan preparation. This occupied much of the GIS trainers' time, but was a prerequisite to carrying out a training and work programme using actual field data. For example, census data is spatially distributed using outdated maps (70 years old) that are not geo-referenced; greatly complicating development of a GIS data base. When completed, however, this work was transferred to Chittagong, thereby benefiting both systems. b) While the GIS has certainly not reached its potential, it has achieved substantial results when all relevant constraints are considered. These include inter alia, overall system complexity, late equipment delivery, data incompatibility and conversion problems, late assignment of technical positions, personnel not assigned as recommended by consultants and UNCHS, part time availability of counterparts intended full time, and insufficient counterpart commitment to training and practice opportunities. However, it is doubtful that much would have been achieved beyond installation of equipment if no more than the original inputs had been provided. To their credit, the subcontractor's additional unprogrammed GIS inputs have been the deciding factor. c) The GIS equipment at Chittagong was installed in August, 1993, but did not become fully operational till January 1994 due to delays in equipment procurement, customs clearance, installation and replacement of some pieces of damaged equipment. Training resources for Chittagong were neither adequately funded nor planned, and logistics of scheduling training from Dhaka was never satisfactory. d) The lack of resources to enable the continuous Chittagong presence of a GIS trainer compromised the effectiveness of the system for which considerable investment has been made. With the early exhaustion of the Dhaka subcontractor's GIS training resources, efforts were made by UNCHS project management to strengthen GIS training, but the difficulties of recruiting a qualified trainer (these skills are still scarce in Bangladesh and are concentrated in Dhaka) were never fully overcome. Steps have been taken to attach the GIS to the main organization and a proposal was sent to government accordingly. However, the most experienced GIS technician could not be recruited in time and has since left the project. e) On the positive side, the system has been used to computerize graphic documents, maps and other project-related data, mainly for the planning component and to a lesser extent in the transportation component. However, the best use of the system in Chittagong has been to make up-to-date base maps at 1:50,000 scale and some thematic maps using satellite imagery (SPOT) procured by the project. The GIS outputs have helped to develop an understanding of some of the system's benefits among the counterparts and the development authority officials and a similar system has been set up by the Chittagong water authority drawing upon the outputs and experience of the project GIS facility. f) Overall, however, Chittagong's GIS system has not met its potential, either in its use by the consultants or by the counterparts (for want of training). The inability of the Dhaka subcontract to mount a systematic and sustained training programme has seriously constrained the development and effective use of GIS in Chittagong and without further resources and commitment by government, its sustainability is in doubt. g) The GIS facility is mainly a service-oriented unit and there is great demand on its resources from both within the project team and outside agencies. This has created problems in the assignment of priorities over requested products as these came from the offices of national project officer as well as the UNCHS Chief Technical Adviser. Though there was an understanding that non-project activities should get least preference, this did not always happen. The problem got worse in the absence of a defined hierarchy in the GIS team. A chain of command needs to be established. h) One of the objectives of including a university department in the project was to provide institutional support to GIS activities of planning organizations. The department did not have any faculty/staff with adequate background in GIS. The department has not been able to avail itself of the offer of GIS training through the project due to faculty/staff involvement in core teaching activities. Besides, the department is handicapped by the lack of GIS software ARC/INFO, which has not been provided under the project, due to the reason that the university's main computer centre retain keys for ARC/INFO. It was understood that the department would be able to obtain or loan a license (key) from the computer centre. Unfortunately, this has not been possible in spite of several meetings involving the Vice Chancellor of the university and UNCHS. The UNCHS project office offered to procure an ARC/INFO key for the department for a notional fee through courtesy of Bangkok-based UNEP/GRID at the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT). This has not happened. Hence, a formal training program for the faculty/staff of the university has yet to take place. Dubai Municipality Integrated urban management reform programmes in Dubai were initiated in 1986 with the assistance of UNDP/UNCHS (Habitat) for the "Institutional Support to Dubai Municipality" project. This project was designed to contribute towards the streamlining and rationalization of the organizational and staffing structure and to the comprehensive improvement of working methodologies and procedures, in order to increase the Municipality's overall efficiency and cost-effecturness. It was also formulated with a view to achieving increased self-reliance through the application of improved and dynamic personnel policies, including clear regulations, job descriptions, salary scales and performance appraisal practices - supported by a vigorous programme for identifying suitable local staff as well as providing assistance in human resource planning and development. The project was further required to improve internal coordination and control mechanisms adapted to realistic objectives and effective monitoring systems. It is also expected to help satisfy the specific needs within the Municipality of certain complex technical services, such as land surveying, urban planning, transportation and environmental protection. The objectives are being met by progressively strengthening the institutional capabilities of the Municipality through the incremental implementation of a planned sequence of adjustments and innovations. Approved recommendations are introduced while other needs and problem areas are still being examined, thereby maximizing impacts of the project and sustaining its momentum. The success of this approach rested primarily on the positive support of top management. Continuing interest at this level in the project's outputs, and decisiveness in acting on recommendations were prerequisites for achieving objectives. A second precondition was the ability of the project to identify and enlist talented nationals receptive to innovation, who would apply themselves to new working practices, procedures and relationships. Within this context of broad-based urban management reforms, and with the project's land survey consultancy in 1986 serving as a significant entry point and stimulus, Dubai is effectively establishing an organisationally well-integrated GIS service. The decision to embark on GIS technology was taken in 1988 when the Information Technology Centre acquired an Intergraph graphics facility. The main interest in using this for the automation of workflows was generated by the Planning and Survey Department, and in particular the Survey Section which initiated work during 1992 and 1993 on a pilot study area where the GIS was tested for practical use by the Municipality. An international seminar was held to discuss operational implications and recommended that the digital base map for topography, cadastre and planning should first be completed, that a GIS committee structure should be established (Steering Committee and Applications Committee), that GIS specialists should be recruited at the Administrative Development Office and the Information Technology Centre, and that GIS cells should be created throughout the Departments and Sections concerned with automation in their daily work programmes. Since 1994, the information system of the Planning and Survey Department has been strengthened and the hardware and software situation improved. This department has its own server linked to that of the Municipalities computing centre. Each staff member of the department has access to networked computer facilities. The digital cadastral data permit partial automation of the issue of site plans and affection plans. The department's planning sections are now preparing new area development plans using digitized map data overlaid by up-to-date digital orthophotos. Automation of certificates has been implemented for property documents for new areas, and the next steps for 1996/97 involve the introduction of application-oriented data collection programmes for socio-economic, traffic, police and health operations, and for the integration of the requirements of utilities planning, implementation and management. Yangon (Rangoon) City and Regional Development Project - Myanmar Within the framework of a programme of feasibility studies to address structure planning, major urban environmental issues and housing delivery systems, this UNDP/UNCHS (Habitat) project incorporated a data management component, implemented during 1992. Activities included converting existing planimetric mapping into a digital map (with partial use of SPOT imagery), advising on the creation of digital thematic maps, training of government staff in use of software and administering the installed systems, and the briefing of officials on the new information technology to support urban planning and management. With respect to the basis for the thematic mapping, the layer design was developed from the UNCHS/UNDP Karachi project experience and from previous work by the GIS consultant in Ghana and the British Virgin Islands. The Yangon Region Map was defined as a drawing file consisting of up to 146 layers. Within UNCHS (Habitat) the particular significance of this project as a case study for GIS was the effectiveness of the training - the personnel of the unit concerned being its greatest asset. High levels of background qualifications and technical proficiency in English were key prerequisites for rapid and thorough capacity-building. In addition to the training of the ten core users, non-professional technical staff provided an efficient pool for data entry and digitizing. Formal applications training consisted of an eight-week AutoCAD course supported by the project and conducted by a local firm specializing in microcomputer applications. By the time of the arrival of the consultant (who conducted briefings, on-the-job training and workshop presentations during his three month input) all the concerned staff were already technically proficient in the use of the applications software then available in the unit. Critical issues identified at the end of the GIS consultancy concerned inadequate electrical power to protect the continuing build-up in hardware, hardware limitations arising from multiple types of systems, the need to develop local supplies of consumables, and the related issues of the application of GIS capability to planning decision-making and the diffusion of GIS skills and planning tools to a broader community of users. A further area of concern related to the need for basic statistical training to ensure that the team could interpret and use the outputs from the SPSS computer runs. Familiarity with SPSS software had been imparted but knowledge of applied statistical terminology and methodology was lacking. Strategy for a National Geographic Information and Analysis Network - Nepal Technical and Institutional Review of the National Planning Commission - Nepal These two activities were executed by the UN office for Project Services (UNOPS) in 1992 and 1994. Both provided advice to the Nepal National Planning Commission (NPC) under the umbrella of the UNDP-funded Strengthening Decentralized Planning Project, for the design of a framework and guidelines for the development of a national GIS network. In the first stage the technical assistance team identified the most appropriate equipment and software, the best approach for managing the use of GIS by government agencies, and the design of an infrastructure-based application for national policy level analysis. The follow-on technical assistance concentrated on the institutionalization of the NPC's GIS facility as the nucleus and leader in the development of GIS and associated information technologies for the political and administrative decentralization process in Nepal. The current setting for GIS was investigated and advice provided an appropriate options to be addressed as follows: - feasibility of establishing NPC's GIS facility as an effective and sustainable support institution for expanding the use of GIS in Nepal, - ways to effectively link national policy makers, GIS service providers, and end users to improve the acceptance of GIS products for decision-making, - ways to improve handling of large databases, to enhance compatibility with GIS, and to improve analytical capabilities, - development of data maintenance procedures and software tools, - improved methodology for GIS project management, - appropriate means for disseminating methodological information on GIS among all users in Nepal and with organizations located outside Nepal, - improved computer systems management at the NPC GIS facility, and - options for decentralized use of GIS to enhance the capacity of self- governing authorities to use information technologies. Following completion of the assessment of the options for institutionalizing the NPC GIS facility, the advisory services researched and documented relevant information regarding hardware configurations for computer and associated peripherals and software systems available for a number of applications, including land records management, utilities management, and visualization for display and analysis of spatial data. The Urban Management Programme The Urban Management Programme (UMP) is a long-term global technical co-operation programme designed to strengthen the contributions that cities and towns in developing countries make toward economic growth social development, the reduction of poverty, and the improvement of environmental quality. To achieve this, the UMP works through regional offices and networks in developing countries in the following five areas: - Urban land management. - Urban infrastructure management. - Municipal finance and administration. - Urban environmental management. - Urban poverty alleviation. The programme is a partnership of the international community and involves a broad range of actors in developing countries at the regional, national, municipal, and community levels. UNCHS (Habitat) is the executing agency, the World Bank is the associated agency, and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) provides core funding and overall monitoring. Fifteen bilateral and multilateral support agencies belong to the UMP partnership. UMP's first phase of activities (1986-1992) focused on the development of "generic" policy frameworks, discussion papers, and tools with global validity and applicability. The most important lesson learned during Phase I was the essential cross-cutting nature of urban management and of the five component areas of the programme. The addition of urban environmental management and urban poverty alleviation as programme themes in, respectively, 1990 and 1991, highlighted this fact by focusing attention on the interrelatedness of the other components and the importance of ensuring that they are worked on as linked facets of the same complex of issues. Land issues, for example, inevitably involve consideration of the effects of and requirements for infrastructure on land use and prices. Similarly, provision of infrastructure of environmental services raises questions of municipal finance and administration, poverty alleviation involves reviewing service standards and financing. UMP's Phase 2 (1992-1996) was directed toward translating the results of this synthesis of experiences into operational programmes and policy action plans at national, provincial, and city levels. Three operating principles characterise the current phase of the programme. - It is demand driven. - It is operationally decentralised, relying upon regional networks of expertise. - It brings together the creative efforts and experience of the international assistance community in urban management. The ultimate beneficiaries of the programme are the citizens of cities and towns in developing countries, particularly the urban poor, who would benefit from a more participatory, transparent, and accountable system of urban management. Intermediary constituents include officials in central and local governments, professionals in the private sector involved with urban management, officers and staff of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and community-based organisations, and research and training institutions in developing countries specialising in urban management. Programme activities were developed and supported through UMP's four regional offices in Accra, Ghana (for Sub-Saharan Africa): Cairo, Egypt (for the Arab States): Quito, Ecuador (for Latin America and the Caribbean): and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (for Asia and the Pacific). Operating through these regional offices, UMP promotes coherent urban policies, strengthens urban management, and enhances the provision of municipal services by harnessing the skills and strategies of regional networks of experts, government personnel, communities, and organisations in the private sector. The programme relies on two mutually supportive processes to facilitate capacity building in its five thematic components. 1. City and Country Consultations. These bring together national and local authorities, the private sector, community representatives and other stakeholders within a country to discuss specific issues and solutions to key urban problems. In so doing, thematic policy framework papers, discussion papers, and tools developed during both phases of the programme are used as starting points for discussion. Consistent with the programme's commitment to "articulated demand" consultations are held at the request of a country or city and are intended to provide a forum for discussion of a cross-section of issues. This generally results in a concrete action plan for policy programme change. Todate, 102 UMP-supported city and country consultations have been under- taken, are currently planned, or will be under way in 1996. 2. Regional Networks of Experts. These networks - comprised of experts with backgrounds in the five UMP theme areas - provide technical advice and co- operation to assist in facilitating the implementation of action plans and the mobilisation of resources as a follow-up to consultations. Typically, these regional experts become the foundation of the human resource base in the programme after having participated in several country or city consultations in their specific area of competence. During 1995, the programme's trend toward decentralisation continued with the work programme reflecting activities emerging from city-and country-level demand. The UNCHS and World Bank core teams, which previously had a lead role in UMP activity development and implementation increasingly worked to provide the regional offices with management support, substantive advice, assistance, and monitoring. Through its core staff in Nairobi (UNCHS) and Washington DC (the World Bank), the UMP supported regional initiatives and net-works by synthesising lessons learned, identifying best practices, conducting ongoing state-of-the art research and disseminating programme-related materials. Initially funded for a ten-year period (1986-1996), major UMP financing was provided in 1995 by the Governments of the Netherlands. Sweden and Switzerland The Governments of Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland and the United Kingdom provided programmatic support through parallel financing. The Ford Foundation also contributed to the programme UNCHS the World Bank and the World Health Organization provided substantial in-kind support Phase 3 of the UMP will concentrate on the three thematic areas of poverty eradication, environmental improvement and participatory governance, and will implement these themes through (1) capacity-building at both the country and regional levels, (2) facilitating national and municipal dialogue on policy and programme options based on a participatory structure that draws upon the strengths of developing country experts and expedites the dissemination of that expertise at the local, national, regional and global levels, and (3) facilitating the implementation of specific development proposals as a follow-up to country and city consultations. Although the UMP incorporates no specific focus area on GIS or related mapping and information systems, activities within each of the five themes involve cross-cutting intensive work on managing and communicating ideas and data with geographical attributes. Under urban land management and urban infrastructure management, the support procedures and institutions dealing with registration, titling, regulations, utilisation, disposal and pricing are addressed, and under infrastructure management: utilities operations and maintenance, agency/authority coordination and pricing systems. For municipal finance, there is an involvement with resource management and tax mapping, while environment management addresses geographical dimensions of the "brown agenda". Urban poverty alleviation involves land tenure regularisation , the mapping of micro-infrastructure among low-income neighbourhoods and more responsive, appropriate standards for land use, housing and infrastructure. In June 1992, a UMP urban Land information seminar was held in Kuala Lumpur and Singapore. This brought together suppliers and users, with 27 participants from eight Asian countries, and resource persons from the World Bank, UNCHS (Habitat) USAID and Signapore. The two UMP publications which assemble selected aspects of global urban experience in GIS are: UMP 9 - Urban Application's of satellite Remote Sensing and GIS Analysis. Bergt Paulsson, 1992 UMP 10 - Utility Mapping and Record Keeping for Infrastructure. David Pickering, Jonathon M. Park, David H. Bannister, 1993 The first was prepared in collaboration with the Global Resource Information Database (GRID) at the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and with the Sustainable Cities Programme launched by UNCHS (Habitat). The report serves as a practical guide to show how satellite remote sensing can be a useful source of urban management information and to demonstrate the benefits of geographical analysis of available data. It focuses on operational applications in cities in developing countries, based on a comprehensive review of recent reports and illustrated by experience from case studies and operational projects. It does not attempt to cover all possible urban applications of GIS technology or serve as a detailed manual for all possible applications of satellite remote sensing. Rather, it offers an introduction to the technologies, available range of products, and various methods of analysis offered by satellite remote sensing. With the support of the Government of Sweden and through thr global project "Development of Urban Environmented Data Using Satellite Data and GIS Analysis", case study experiences were provided for this report from Egypt, Ghana, Philippines and Tanzania. UMP 10 reviews recent developments in the field of urban infrastructure recording and mapping, a number of issues that need to be addressed, and some actions that could be taken to improve recordkeeping systems. Although the emphasis here is on maps and records for utilities and basic municipal infrastructure services, particularly those with underground networks, some aspects of the discussion apply to urban management information systems in general. The central point is that the standard of records and information systems in municipalities and utilities often fails to meet the needs outlined above. Any organization that expects to run and efficient day-to-day operation and to manage and develop its services effectively must know what assets it has, where they are, their condition, how they are performing, and how much it costs to provide the service. Asia-Pacific Regional Activities The UN role in cooperative institution building, information sharing and networking in the field of GIS/GPS is well developed at the regional level. For Asia-Pacific countries a complex but coherent system of interlocking arrangements has been established which is often difficult to comprehend at first glance due in part to the build up of abbreviations and acronyms for the various programmes and sub-systems. Remote sensing technology development and the associated applications in natural resources monitoring and management, meteorology, crop forecasting and coastal zone/river system monitoring was earlier the primary concern, with a shift during the 1990s from a technical focus to also exploring the linkages with developmental decision-making in national planning and environmental management. The need has also more recently been identified to consider an increased concentration on urbanisation impacts and to accordingly develop closer operational connections with urban GIS programmes at the level of specific cities. The follow account of these regional activities uses edited extracts from a 1996 paper prepared by Dr. He Changchui, Regional Adviser on Remote Sensing and GIS, ESCAP, Bangkok. For more than a decade, the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) has been involved in promoting remote sensing and GIS activities, particularly through the implementation of two back-to-back regional projects- the Regional Remote Sensing Programme (RRSP) and the Integrated Applications of Geographic Information Systems and Remote Sensing for Sustainable Development (GIS/RSRP), as well as cooperative regional activities supported by bilateral donors. Under these UNDP-supported programmes, ESCAP has organized more than forty training courses/workshops which were participated in by over 1,000 people, fifty-five seminars/conferences attended by some 5,000 specialists drawn from at least forty member countries and published more than 100 journals, reports, proceedings, manual, and guidelines. In 1992, the Regional Remote Sensing Programme was largely absorbed in the regular work programme of ESCAP and in 1994 a Space Technology Applications Section (STAS) was created within ESCAP. STAS is now serving as the nucleus of space technology and applications activities, including mainly the Regional Space Applications Programme and its associated networks. With the change in emphasis in 1992, greater involvement of planners, policy makers and decision makers was encouraged so as to address the pressing needs of national planning and environmental management and eventually contribute in overall poverty alleviation in the region. The activities in the programme areas identified in the Action Plan in the area of remote sensing and GIS reflect the new direction followed by GIS/RSRP. Regional networking is an essential component of the operational approach of ESCAP and of all preceding space-related activities. The regional cooperative network on space-related activities dates back to March 1983 when ESCAP initiated the RRSP with funding support from UNDP. RRSP emphasized the fostering of technical cooperation among the developing countries (TCDC) and established an effective regional coordination network - a unique regional mechanism for promoting interaction among the national remote sensing centres/programmes in the region. The nucleus of the network was the Intergovernmental Consultative Committee (ICC) on RRSP which started its operation in 1984 with eight initial members. Over the last 12 years the membership increased to 20 with a few more participating countries intending to enlist. In 1994, ESCAP organized the first ever Ministerial Conference on Space Applications for Development in Asia and the Pacific at Beijing. The Conference, adopted the Beijing Declaration on Space Applications for Environmentally Sound and Sustainable Development in Asia and the Pacific, and launched the Regional Space Applications Programme for Sustainable Development in Asia and the Pacific (RESAP). The Strategy for Regional Cooperation in Space Applications for Sustainable Development provided a policy instrument for building national capability in Asia and the Pacific to make increasing use of space technologies for addressing the urgent problems confronting them, including those identified in Agenda 21 adopted by the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) and to integrate these technologies with national planning for sustainable development. At the recommendation of the Conference, ICC was reconstituted in June 1995 with the presentation from heads of national space agencies/national organizations responsible for space development and application programmes, and continues to provide technical support and policy guidance to ESCAP. The main operational arrangement for this regional network was consultation among the national focal points for RESAP through its annual session. Currently, the ICC annual session is held back-to-back, in rotation in participating countries, with the Regional Working Group Meeting on Remote Sensing, GIS and Satellite Based Positioning System. The Conference also recommended the establishment of a regional network consisting of working groups to cover the expanded scope of RESAP. A preparatory expert group meeting organized by ESCAP in early 1995, formulated the terms of reference for Regional Working Groups covering four sectors, namely: remote sensing/GIS/satellite positioning, meteorological satellite applications and disaster monitoring, satellite communication applications and distance education, and space science and technology applications An expert group meeting was organized by ESCAP early in 1995, which prepared 43 project profiles covering four sectors of space applications, including remote sensing and GIS for addressing the following concerns: coastal zone monitoring, marine ecosystems, crop forecasting, forest cover monitoring, land use/cover change detection, river course monitoring, urbanization studies, surface and groundwater resources identification, biodiversity conservation, tropical cyclone studies and monsoon monitoring and forestry research. Out of the 43 project profiles, ESCAP has so far developed nine full project documents and succeeded in securing funding support for their implementation. The remaining project profiles have been streamlined and consolidated into 15 project proposals and submitted to major donors and interested organizations to further seek their funding support. The nine projects which have already received funding from the Governments of France, Japan and the Republic of Korea include a pilot study on the promotion of small satellite data applications, two projects on tropical ecosystem management using remote sensing and GIS, one project on coastal zone management with a focus on mangrove ecosystems using GIS and remote sensing, one project on distance education through communication satellites, and a pre-feasibility study as well as a feasibility study on a regional Earth Space Information Network for Asia and the Pacific (ESINAP). In addition, ESCAP has entered into an agreement with NASDA on joint research on building national capability in using advanced Earth observation satellite technology for environment and natural resource management, and, through an umbrella programme, twenty research projects will be carried out in three years by 20 principal investigators selected from 15 ESCAP member countries. Another recommendation of the Action Plan was to address the need to ensure multilevel information exchange and sharing among users and between member countries. In this connection, ESCAP organized, in cooperation with the Government of Malaysia through the Malaysian Centre for Remote Sensing, an Expert Group Meeting on the Development of Guidelines for GIS Standards and Standardization Procedures which was held in Kuala Lumpur in September 1995. the meeting was designed to assist in the preparation of a general set of guidelines for standardization of GIS for users at the local, national and regional levels. In order to obtain an overall picture of the issues and problems associated with the use of GIS in the region, a questionnaire survey was undertaken to document the ways GIS was used in 180 organizations in the region with special emphasis on spatial data exchange capability. A handbook providing Guidelines on GIS data standards and standardization procedures will be published in 1997 by ESCAP. This will be the second manual available for natural resources managers and environment planners following the publication of a Manual of Remote Sensing and GIS for Use by Planners and Decision Makers by ESCAP in 1996. Recognizing that human resources development is essential in national capacity building, RESAP reactivated in 1995, the Education and Training Network set up in 1988. This network comprises contact points in some 20 countries to effectively coordinate education and training in space applications especially in remote sensing and GIS on a regional basis. ESCAP, through its technical assistance fund, had been providing the network with a catalytic support to the participating countries to share facilities in space education and training. The network has successfully established two regular long-term fellowship activities - one in India under the SHARES Programme of the Government of India and the other in china at the Wuhan Technical University of Survey and Mapping under the Government of China's Advanced Overseas Students Programme. The needs of the island countries, land-locked countries and least developed members of ESCAP have been specifically addressed in the network activities. In addition to their participation in the long-term and medium-term fellowship programmes, ESCAP, at the request of the Government of Samoa, also organized a two-week National Training Workshop on GIS-MAPINFO Operation in 1995, which benefitted 23 local participants from nine government departments and agencies. The training workshop, was a follow up of a regional Seminar-cum-Working Group Meeting on Remote Sensing and GIS for Land and Sea Resources and Environment for the Pacific Subregion organized by ESCAP In order to implement the Regional Strategy and Action Plan, ESCAP through its Regional Adviser on Remote Sensing and GIS has been providing advisory services to member countries on national strategy/policies, programming and planning related to the promotion of space technology development and applications. Such services have also been provided to government agencies for introducing, assessing and developing related remote sensing and GIS technology, organizing national training activities, and evaluating remote sensing and GIS applications projects for sustainable natural resources and environment management. Inter agency consultation and coordination are essential for promoting regional cooperation activities. The Regional Strategy identifies the need for an inter-agency forum to ensure cooperation and coordination among the UN system and donor agencies in the implementation of the recommendations of the Ministerial Conference. In pursuance of the recommendation, ESCAP took an initiative to establish in October 1995 an Inter-agency Subcommittee on Space Applications for Sustainable Development in Asia and the Pacific which meets annually to explore joint programming and implementation of space applications projects in order to share expertise and avoid duplication. Representatives from FAO, ITU, UNEP, UNDP, WMO and ESCAP are members. Several other non-UN organizations such as APT, ESA and the Mekong River Commission were also invited and participated in the two sessions of the Subcommittee along with a number of representatives from the ESCAP member countries as observers. Currently, the Subcommittee is exploring the possibility of sharing individual databases through Internet and joint organization of an Asia-Pacific Information Conference for Agricultural Management. With a substantive regional space application programme covering remote sensing, GIS and satellite based positioning system, meteorological satellite applications for disaster monitoring, communication satellite applications for distance education, and applied space science and technology development, ESCAP has been participating in several regional initiatives in space technology cooperation, including the Expert Group Meeting of the Establishment of a Permanent Committee on Geographic Information Infrastructure, which was held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in July 1995, followed by the Commencement Workshop on the Greater Mekong Subregion Cooperative Environment and Information System Programme organized by ADB at Manila in October 1995 in cooperation with UNDP and the Mekong River Commission Secretariat. E. Conclusions As an architect and physical planner with many years spent in a wide range of developing countries in many job relationships, but with very little direct hands-on experience of computerised GIS, the author has the following personal and tentative comments. These are based on the experience within UN projects and in working with other agencies such as the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank together with discussions over the years with other field practitioners. 1. In many cases the project inputs concentrate on the operating process rather than developing applications to generate convincing decision-making products. There are few examples in UNCHS (Habitat) projects where the new GIS capability has directly influenced stategic planning. Too often the new systems are limited to recording the current situation in order to simply produce maps and to improve the speed and accuracy of managing what are often date-to-day operational activities, rather than manipulating data to provide new information. Mathematical modelling, of the kind tested in the Karachi example needs to be integrated with GIS cartographic modelling if the complex social, physical and economic factors in metropolitan planning are to be seriously tackled. This would also, of course, involve dealing with the time element (the fourth dimension) in the GIS applications. On the common understanding that any modelling is only as good as the original data put in, but that physical attributes are usually more reliable than socio-economic material, manipulating the comparative levels of errors will continue to be a challenge to urban planners, whether employing automated or conventional systems. 2. A common thread running through the UN projects is the problem of institutional and human resource sustainability. Units set up for GIS and the teams trained under projects are not always still in place a year after the project closes. We need tougher preconditions negotiated with recipient governments prior to the signing of agreements, plus intermittent follow-up supervision and monitoring built into project design. 3. Much time and energy is consumed in obtaining aerial photography. In many countries redundant and patently ineffective security restrictions exist. One South Asian case, for example, required prolonged paper work to obtain prints, and a six-month release period before returning them to the survey department. The prints could not be taken out of the city, never mind out of the country. Fortunately when the regulations were first introduced, satellite imagery was not around and is not therefore covered by the rules. Over the next decade when conventional photography is likely to be superceded, this particular problem should wither away. 4. The point brought up on information sharing in the Karachi project is common to many other situations. In one case UNCHS (Habitat) has faced this obstacle in a climate where, prior to an international aid embargo being lifted, the foreign private investment sector had set a precedent by offering to pay high prices for access to often the most commonplace, off-the-shelf data. More pre-project attention is needed to develop techniques to deal with the deep-seated attitudes towards information hoarding. 5. GIS standardisation is not receiving the attention it deserves, whether at the national, regional or international levels. It is disconcenting to see that within UNCHS (Habitat) the early initiatives to introduce some common approach, is to a certain extent being dissipated through the development of separate packages with almost identical user needs. The ESCAP and Nepal examples, together with work in Jamaica, provide positive models. 6. Given what appears to be an alarming intensification of national and man-made disasters during the closing years of the millenium, including the factional warfare underlying the Liberia and Afghanistan examples, the successful application of GIS (as demonstrated by these two cases) in emergency/relief programmes is not matching its potential elsewhere. Through UNHCR, the UN system should explore the manner in which GIS rapid reaction approaches could be further developed and built-into the emergency procedures 7. The housing and urban indicators programme was undertaken globally on a country-by-country and sometimes on an individual city basis as an important component of the Habitat II conference. Now in its post-conference phase and developing a sustainable life of its own, this programme would benefit from the application of GIS inputs in order to diversify the more conventional numerical quantification techniques previously employed. On a final, perhaps minor point, and this relates to item 1 above, the author laments the under-use of sieve mapping as a decision-making and awareness-raising tool in many of the GIS initiatives incorporated within urban projects. As one who was bowled over in the early 1970s by Ian McHarg's "Design with Nature", and as a planner who has introduced non-computerised sieving in countries such as Nepal, this comes as a surprise given the manipulative freedoms opened up by the new technology. F. Trends and Responses Estimates by the United Nations indicate that at mid-1990, 43 percent (2.3 billion) of the world's population lived in urban areas. With the urban population growing two and a half times faster than its rural counterpart, the level of urbanisation is projected to cross the 50 percent mark by 2005. Projections further show that by 2025, more than three fifths of the world's population will live in urban areas. The urban population in that year will be approximately 5.2 billion. Just over 20 years ago, more than half the world's urban population lived in developed countries. By 2025, it is projected that developing countries will have nearly four times as many urban dwellers as developed countries. In 1990, 72 percent of Latin America's 441 million people were urban dwellers; by 2005, Latin America will be home to the second largest number of urban residents, but trailing Asia by a wide margin. From a relatively modest 83 million urban dwellers in 1970, Africa's urban population increased to a substantial 206 million in 1990, Projections for 2005 put its urban population at 400 million, and it will double again in the subsequent years, to 857 million by 2025. By 2000, Lagos, Nigeria, will become the first African city to be among the world's ten largest. In 1970, Asia (excluding Japan) was home to 408 million urban dwellers. This sizeable number had more than doubled by 1990, to 879 million, and it is expected to increase to more than 2.5 billion by 2025. By 1990, Asia had four of the ten largest urban agglomerations: Tokyo, Shanghai, Bombay and Seoul. Projections show the number increasing to six in 2010, when Beijing, Jakarta and Dhaka will be on the list. A high level of urbanisation is characteristic of the developed regions. Australia-New Zealand, Northern Europe and Western Europe have levels of 80 percent or higher. Southern Europe, Eastern Europe and the former USSR and less urbanised. No city in Europe has achieved a population of 10 million or more, and none is projected to do so by 2010. During the past two decades, a new pattern of migration was identified in many developed countries: growth in large metropolitan areas decelerated, and people were moving to urban areas of smaller size or to areas classified as rural. First observed in the United States in the mid-1970s, and then in Canada, the "counter-urbanisation" trend spread during the 1980s to other more developed countries, particularly to those in Europe and to Australia, New Zealand and Japan. For instance, in the period between 1970 and 1975, the rate of urbanisation in the United States was only .01 percent. Rates for 1975-1980 were only slightly higher. As a result, urbanization in the United States and Canada was virtually static, remaining at 74 percent in the United States and 76 percent in Canada throughout the 1970s. Tokyo continues to be the largest urban agglomeration in the world. It has been No.1 since 1970 and is projected to be the first each decade up to 2010. New York slipped from first in 1960 to second in 1970 and then to third in 1990; it is likely to continue to fall in rank in the next two decades. Besides Tokyo and New York, the world's ten largest cities in 1990 were Shanghai, Bombay and Seoul from Asia; Sao Paulo, Mexico City Buenos Aires and Rio do Janeiro from Latin America; and Los Angeles in Northern America. Their populations ranged from Tokyo's 25 million to Rio's 10.9 million. Beijing, Lagos and Jakarta will join the list of ten largest in 2000, replacing Buenos Aires, Seoul and Rio de Janeriro. Dhaka, Bangladesh, is projected to make its first appearance on the list in 2010 in place of Los Angeles. It is expected that 26 will have 10 million or more inhabitants by 2010, 21 of them in developing countries. Asia will be home to 14 of those very large cities; 5 will be in Latin America and 2 will be in Africa. The number of cities of 5 to 19 million inhabitants grew from 18 in the world in 1970 to 22 in 1990. Projections for 2010 anticipate 33 such cities. Not only is the world becoming increasingly urbanised, there is also an urbanisation of poverty. Some 300 million urban dwellers in developing countries are currently recorded as living in poverty, without sufficient incomes to fulfil even basic nutritional and shelter requirements. The rapidly increasing population in urban areas is causing considerable strain, not only on the urban infrastructure and on housing, but also on the urban environment. The effects are dramatized in the numbers and faces of the urban homeless, even in affluent societies. For example, over 20 percent of the population in the greater New York metropolitan area lives below the poverty threshold. In addition, nearly a quarter of a million New Yorkers - more than 3 percent of the city's population and more than 8 percent of its black children - have stayed in shelters over the past five years. In Europe, too, cities are increasingly facing critical housing conditions. London has about 400,000 registered homeless people, while nearly 10,000 of France's half million homeless are in Paris. The situation is worse still in cities of developing countries, where more than 60 percent of the population live in squatter settlements or inner-city slums. In Calcutta, Dhaka and Mexico City, more than 25 percent of the people constitute what is often known as the "floating" population. Whereas there are development gains and losses in the precarious balance between progress and deprivation throughout developing countries, one area of increasing concern is the widening gap between the served and unserved in such basic services as water supply and sanitation. Between 1990 and 2000 the projection is that, although the percentage improvements look optimist, the absolute numbers remaining without adequate services will drastically increase. For Asia the situation with respect to infrastructure needs is particularly critical. The World Bank estimates that an investment in the order $1.5 trillion is required over the next ten years in order to keep pace with economic and demographic growth. In a global environment where the role of the state in delivering essential services and in defining and promoting public interest is being contested, urban policy makers increasingly see privatization, in whatever form, as the only rapid and cost effective way forward. Unfortunately, Asia's progress in infrastructure partnerships with the private sector does not seem to be living up to expectations. Although during 1994/95, there are estimates that project finance loans in Asia doubled to reach $9.3 billion, operational performance was poor. Out of 223 build-operate-transfer infrastructure projects already existing by mid 1994 only a handful were under construction by the end of 1995. Within the context of these global socio-economic and environmental trends, the 1996 Istanbul UN Habitat II conference addressed the shifts in responsibilities and powers and the need to develop more constructive partnerships, whether between regions, central and local governments, the state and civil society and the public and private commercial sectors. There was also a call to develop methods of sharing knowledge and experience which are universally affordable and accessible while exploiting the latest advances in technology. Using the language of the conference proceedings and the subsequent reports, the key messages of universal significance which emerged may be summarised as follows. The first is that the way human settlements are managed will be critical to economic growth, human development and global environmental sustainability, particularly in light of urbanization trends past, present and future, which are transforming human settlements and human society and changing the relations between urban and rural areas. The second is that adequate shelter for all and the progressive realization of the right to adequate housing is fundamental to improving the living and working conditions of people and the quality of life in human settlements, thus contributing to the social stability and equity on which economic growth and economic development can build and be advanced. The third message is that economically buoyant, socially vibrant and environmentally sound human settlements, under conditions of continuing and rapid urbanization in many parts of the world, will increasingly depend on the capacity of all levels of governments to reflect the priorities of communities, to encourage and guide local development and to forge partnerships between the private, public, voluntary and community sectors. This calls for concerted efforts in human resources and leadership development, institutional reform, organizational and mana