3–6 November 2008
Harmonious Urbanization
The Theme of the Fourth session of WUF held in Nanjing in 2008 was Harmonious Urbanization.
This session made it clear that a society cannot be harmonious if large sections of its population are deprived from basic needs while other sections live in opulence. An important message from this Forum was that harmony in cities cannot be achieved if the price of urban living is paid by the environment.
The concept of harmony entails the synchronization and integration of all the Earth’s assets: physical, environmental, cultural, historical, social or human.
The theme of the forth session of WUF was "Harmonious urbanization: The Challenge of balanced territorial development". The Forum had six sub-themes: Territorial balance in urban development; Promoting social equity and inclusiveness; Making cities productive and equitable; Harmonizing the built and natural environments; and, A city for all generations.
It was organized around six dialogues, eight roundtables discussions and more than 140 networking events and habitat seminars. Participants represented Governments and a range of Habitat Agenda partners including parliamentarians, local authorities, NGOs, private sector, professionals, international organizations, research institutions, foundations and the media.
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