As we move into the new millennium, one trend overwhelms our concerns: the rapid urbanization with deepening poverty, environmental degradation and increasing slums, which poses tremendous challenges for achieving adequate shelter for all. The challenges we faced in human settlements cannot be met by governments, private sector or civil society alone. It requires the actions of all aspects of the society. Human Settlements Finance Forum will address one of the most important issues in improving human settlements – i.e. finance. It will combine the thought leadership of academics with practitioners from the governments, local authorities, private sectors and civil society to confront human settlements finance problems and to exchange views and experiences in tackling human settlements finance problems, to address challenges in human settlements, to advance the debate for human settlements finance, and to explore and promote innovations in finance systems and policies.

The Human Settlements Finance Forum is organised in cooperation with international and national organizations, Habitat Agenda partners, research or policy institutions. Thematic human settlements finance issues will be explored in the Forum, while each Forum focuses on one theme.