We selected the theme, Changing cities, building opportunities, for World
Habitat Day this year because our quest to improve cities and provide better services and opportunities for the world's growing urban populations is more urgent than ever.
Half the world's people now live in towns and cities. In little more than a generation, two-thirds of the global population will be urban. As the proportion of humanity living in the urban environment grows, so too does the need to strengthen the urban focus of our efforts to reduce global poverty and promote sustainable development.
Statement by Dr. Joan Clos, Executive Director of UN-Habitat on the occasion of World Habitat Day, 1 October 2012
