"Istanbul + 5" committee hears case studies on Tanzania, Sweden, China, Poland

The Thematic Committee of the General Assembly's special session on shelter this morning explored case studies from Tanzania, Sweden, China and Poland, focusing on such issues as environmental planning, management and rehabilitation, as well as compact city development and innovative approaches to creating new housing.

Presenting the case study of Stockholm, the Director of the Strategic Department of Stockholm City Planning Administration, Mats Pemer, stressed the importance of long-term urban planning and a participatory approach to decision-making. The fact that many industrial facilities had been removed from the city, leaving behind vacant land, presented a good opportunity for the rehabilitation of those areas, he said. As the city developed through both preservation and new construction, a "green belt" would be expanded, and local infrastructures would be adapted to the needs of a healthy and liveable city with good environment and conditions, Mr. Pemer said.

The vice-mayor of Chengdu, China, then described the Fu and Nan Rivers project initiated in 1993, which had successfully implemented measures to prevent flooding and pollution, and had relocated about 30,000 families that had settled along the banks of the two rivers in low-lying areas with few sanitation facilities, threatened by disease and crime. The relocation had been completed in 18 months and had included the laying of water and gas pipelines, electric cables, and telecommunications lines.

Tumsifu Jonas Nnkya, Professor at the University of Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania, spoke about a successful partnership between local communities, the private sector and the Dar-es-Salaam City Council in upgrading a flood-prone settlement that had previously lacked proper roads and waste collection services. By decreasing flooding, the project had reduced malaria cases from 4,000 to 2,000 in 2001. Collection and management of waste had increased, creating employment and generating income. At the same time, property values in the settlement had risen.

Presenting the case study of Poland, the Mayor of Katowice, Piotr Uzdok, noted the city's restructuring and transitional problems, stressing that the creation of a project with a united structure was required in response to the challenges. He also noted that the experience gained in the implementation of the project could be used in other areas. The project's director, Justina Gorgon, said five working groups had been the main tools for rehabilitation of contaminated post-industrial areas and waste management, among other things.

The Thematic Committee is a new entity created for the purpose of exchanging experiences and lessons learned during the special session's review of the implementation of the Habitat Agenda adopted at the 1996 Second United Nations Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat II) in Istanbul. In five interactive sessions, the Committee is to address 16 case studies. Today's afternoon session was expected to take up case studies from Brazil, France, Nigeria and Spain.