By 2050, two-thirds of the world population will inhabit urban centers. Rampant urbanization and urban migration impose a tremendous burden on cities; whereas, already 30% of their inhabitants currently reside in slums. This translates as more than 283 million slum dwellers, living in squalid conditions in major cities, the majority of whom are located in the least-developed countries. More shockingly, over a billion people live without the most basic needs for well-being and an adequate standard of living, including water, sanitation, electricity, and shelter. Inextricably linked to this crisis is the increasing inability of rural people, peasants and indigenous peoples to survive on their lands, thus driving urban migration. While cities are the epitome of this global phenomenon, the onus for the policies and other causes lies with states and other globalized forces.
In 1976, the first United Nations conference on human settlements met at Vancouver to discuss urbanization and its impacts as an emerging urgency, considering the moral and material values at stake. The late Prime Minister Trudeau opened the Forum, declaring that:
Human settlements are linked so closely to existence itself, represent such a concrete and widespread reality, are so complex and demanding, so laden with questions of rights and desires, with needs and aspirations, so racked with injustices and deficiencies, that the subject cannot be approached with the leisurely detachment of the solitary theoretician." (Vancouver, 31 May 1976).
From that meeting, the Vancouver Declaration and Action Plan, grounding the UN Habitat mandate, asserted that “adequate shelter and services are a basic human right.” The participating States recognized the special needs of postdisaster zones, with particular emphasis being on the reconciliation of immediate needs with the achievement of long-term goals. They identified as a priority “the ensuring of security of land tenure for unplanned settlements, and providing sites and services specifically for construction by the informal sector"; and, finally, confirmed that "private land ownership contributes to social injustice" and that "public control of land use is therefore indispensable."