Identity area
Type of entity
Corporate body
Authorized form of name
Habitat Forum (1976 : Vancouver, B.C.)
Parallel form(s) of name
Standardized form(s) of name according to other rules
Other form(s) of name
Identifiers for corporate bodies
Description area
Dates of existence
History
Habitat Forum took place at Jericho Beach Park from May 27th until June 11th, 1976. It was a conference/exposition that happened in conjunction with the U.N. Conference on Human Settlements, also known as the Habitat conference. According to the Habitat Forum program, found in the United Nations Conference on Human Settlements fonds (AM337), “Habitat Forum is the collective name for the non-governmental activities related to Habitat: the United Nations Conference on Human Settlements.”
Habitat Forum staff and volunteers converted the five airplane hangars at Jericho Beach Park (former air force base) to an exhibition site for the Habitat Forum. They worked at the site from October 1975 until May of 1976 to prepare.
Because entry to the U.N. Conference on Human Settlements was limited to government delegates, selected NGO officials and press, the Habitat Forum provided a space for members of the public to engage with the conference and monitor the U.N. sessions via closed circuit television remotely from the Forum site.
Habitat Forum was primarily funded by the Canadian government as part of the U.N. Conference on Human Settlements with some assistance from the United Nations in funds and labour. Habitat Forum was organized by various individuals with affiliations to the U.N. however there was no official U.N. agency responsible for settlements issues until 1978.