SCROLL OF HONOUR AND WORLD HABITAT AWARDS TO BE PRESENTED AT CEREMONY IN BONN, 6 OCTOBER

2 October 1997

Press Release
HAB/144

SCROLL OF HONOUR AND WORLD HABITAT AWARDS TO BE PRESENTED AT CEREMONY IN BONN, 6 OCTOBER

19971002 Ceremony Marks Global Observance of World Habitat Day

NEW YORK, 2 October (Habitat) -- The Habitat Scroll of Honour will be presented to six recipients from around the world on 6, October, World Habitat Day, at a global ceremony in Bonn, Germany. The Scroll of Honour is presented annually by the United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (Habitat) to organizations or individuals for their outstanding contribution to human settlements development.

The six recipients for this year include a Senator from Mexico, a mother and child centre in Germany, a federation for homeless people in South Africa, the Mayor of a municipality in China, the Federation of Municipalities in Canada, and two researchers and teachers based in the United States and the United Kingdom.

Also to be presented at the ceremony are the World Habitat Awards, which are given annually by the Building and Social Housing Foundation, a non-governmental organization based in the United Kingdom. They seek to recognize bold, imaginative and practical solutions to housing problems. This year the awards will go to a housing project in Germany and an urban management project in Brazil.

The global World Habitat Day ceremony in Bonn will be hosted by Klaus Topfer, the German Minister for Regional Planning, Building and Urban Environment. The awards will be presented by Wally N'Dow, Assistant Secretary-General of the Centre for Human Settlements.

Also on 6 October, a variety of national and community level events focusing on this year's World Habitat Day theme, "Future Cities", will take place around the world. Habitat is the lead United Nations agency for the Day, which takes place on the first Monday of October of every year.

The 1997 Habitat Scroll of Honour recipients are:

-- Senator Oscar Lopez Velarde Vega, Mexico: For his outstanding contribution to legal and regulatory reform in the field of settlements

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development and for international action with parliamentarians worldwide in responding to the challenge of rapid urbanization;

-- Mother Centre Stuttgart-West, Germany: For promoting sustainable community development, social cohesion, the empowerment of grassroots women and neighbourhood networks;

-- South African Homeless People's Federation: For pioneering women's central participation in saving and loans and for mobilizing the urban poor on overall settlement planning, finance, training and construction;

-- Mayor Huang Ziqiang, China: For his outstanding role in the sustainable development and management of human settlements in Zhongshan Municipality;

-- Richard Goethert of the United States and Nabeel Hamdi of the United Kingdom: For their outstanding contribution in the development of innovative methodologies, training and field practice in community action planning; and

-- Federation of Canadian Municipalities, Canada: For mobilizing elected officials and staff from Canadian municipalities for the development of local communities and for providing support to sister municipalities in developing countries.

The 1997 World Habitat Awards recipients are:

-- Eropahaus Project, Hannover, Germany: The project consists of 64 rental units which provide low-cost housing of a high social, ecological and architectural standard. The cost of construction is 30 per cent less than normal owing to an innovative design and integrated planning and implementation methods. Ecological materials, high levels of insulation, rainwater collection and a co-generation heating system are used to minimize environmental impact; and

--Urban Management in Curitiba -- Building Full Citizenship, Curitiba, Brazil: This project is a shining example of how an imaginative city planning approach has created a sustainable urban environment and strong sense of citizenship. Housing provision is an integral part of the project's urban development plan and includes an innovative, low-cost finance system which involves the private sector.

Additional information on World Habitat Day can be obtained from the Habitat office, Two United Nations Plaza, room DC2-943, New York, NY 10017. Tel: 212-963-4200. Web site: http://www.unhabitat.org.

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