| Year | Themes | WHD Venue | Chief guest |
| 2006 | Cities, magnets of hope. | | |
| 2005 | The Millennium Development Goals and the City | Jakarta | President Susilo Bambang Yudoyono |
| 2004 | Cities - Engines of Rural Development | Nairobi | President Mwai Kibaki of Kenya |
| 2003 | Water and Sanitation for Cities | Rio De Janeiro | Mayor of Rio De Janeiro |
| 2002 | City-to-City Cooperation | Brussels | H.R.H. Prince Philippe |
| 2001 | Cities without Slums | Fukuoka | Governor of Fukuoka Prefecture |
| 2000 | Women in Urban Governance | Jamaica | Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Land and Environment |
| 1999 | Cities for All | Dalian | Minister of Construction,China |
| 1998 | Safer Cities | Dubai | Director General Dubai Municipality UAE |
| 1997 | Future Cities | Bonn | Federal Minister for Regional Planning,Building and Urban Development, Germany |
| 1996 | Urbanization, Citizenship and Human Solidarity | Budapest | Minister of the Interior, Hungary |
| 1995 | Our Neighbourhood | Curitiba | Mayor of Curitiba |
| 1994 | Home and the Family | Dakar | President of Senegal |
| 1993 | Women and Shelter Development | UN, New York | SG, UN |
| 1992 | Shelter and Sustainable Development | UN, New York | SG, UN |
| 1991 | Shelter and the Living Environment | Hiroshima | Mayor of Hiroshima |
| 1990 | Shelter and Urbanization | London | Hon. Sir Geoffrey |
| 1989 | Shelter, Health and the Family | Jakarta | President of Indonesia |
| 1988 | Shelter and Community | London | Archbishop of Canterbury |
| 1987 | Shelter for the Homeless | New York | SG, UN |
| 1986 | Shelter is my Right | Nairobi | USG, UNCHS (Habitat) |
