HUD & UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO CO-HOST PLANNING CONFERENCE IN ADVANCE OF UNITED NATIONS HABITAT III SUMMIT
Learning from the City: The Midwest Regional Convening of U.N. Habitat III

CHICAGO - U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Midwest Regional Office in collaboration with the University of Chicago Urban are hosting a regional convening on the past and future of urban policy in advance of the 3rd United Nations (U.N.) Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development ("Habitat III"), which will take place in Quito, Ecuador in October 2016.

The U.N. convened the Habitat I conference in 1976 in Vancouver, Canada sparking the first international convening to address urban issues. Twenty years later, in 1996, Habitat II, was held in Istanbul, Turkey where world leaders adopted the Habitat Agenda as a global action plan to create adequate shelter for all. The third convening, Habitat III (https://www.huduser.gov/portal/ipi/habitat-iii.html), will take place in Quito, Ecuador in October, 2016. The primary purpose of Habitat III is to write a New Urban Agenda, a document that will serve as a roadmap for sustainable urban development for cities across the globe.

"Learning from the City" is the first of five regional convenings co-hosted by HUD and local civic leaders, governmental, educational, and philanthropic partners. Other partners to the event include: Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning; The Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, Habitat for Humanity Chicago, LISC, Metropolitan Planning Council, National Fair Housing Alliance, and the University of Chicago Office of Civic Engagement.

The program will:

1. Provide an open forum for scholars, practitioners, philanthropy, students, and thought leaders to share local challenges and lessons learned in the last 20 years since Habitat II;
2. Stimulate dialogue about connections between local and global challenges and uplift local practices to inform the U.S. policy agenda.
3. Strengthen connections among urban development practitioners, scholars, and funders across the Midwestern region.

The Midwest regional convening will focus on four themes: (1) Investing in People and Communities for Upward Mobility; (2) Securing Housing Options for All; (3) Responding to Shocks and Building Resilience; and (4) The Role of Big Data in Shaping Regional Policy.

In-Person Conference Registration RSVP (https://universityevents.wufoo.com/forms/learning-from-the-city/)

Media RSVP (http://tinyurl.com/h3media-rsvp)

Follow Us (https://twitter.com/Habitat3UN) using: #habitat3 (https://t.e2ma.net/click/9z09g/1duvtub/psld5b)

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