Popularly called the "City Summit", it brought together high-level representatives of national and local governments, as well as private sector, NGOs, research and training institutions and the media.
Universal goals of ensuring adequate shelter for all and human settlements safer, healthier and more livable cities, inspired by the Charter of the United Nations, were discussed and endorsed.
The objectives for Habitat II were stated as: in the long term, to arrest the deterioration of global human settlements conditions and ultimately create the conditions for achieving improvements in the living environment of all people on a sustainable basis, with special attention to the needs and contributions of women and vulnerable social groups whose quality of life and participation in development have been hampered by exclusion and inequality, affecting the poor in general; to adopt a general statement of principles and commitments and formulate a related global plan of action capable of guiding national and international efforts through the first two decades of the next century.
A new mandate for the United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (UNCHS) was derived to support and monitor the implementation of the Habitat Agenda adopted at the Conference and approved by the General Assembly.
[4] A draft resolution[5] on the "United Nations Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat II)" (A/C.2/49/L.27) was first tabled by the co-sponsors, Algeria, on behalf of the G-77 and China, and Turkey.