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UNECE to celebrate World Habitat Day with “Art for Smart Sustainable Cities” exhibition

By 2050, almost three quarters of the world’s population will call urban areas home. We are clearly living in a Century of Cities. There are striking urban and housing challenges, in both developed and developing countries. To draw attention to these, UNECE, in cooperation with the Cittadellarte Foundation in Biella, Italy, and the UN Office in Geneva, will open the exhibition “Art for Smart Sustainable Cities” on World Habitat Day, 5 October.


The United Nations has designated the first Monday of October of every year as World Habitat Day. The purpose of this Day is to reflect on the state of our towns and cities, and on the basic right of all to adequate shelter. It is also intended to remind the world that we all have the power and the responsibility to shape the future of our cities and towns.


The exhibition “Art for Smart Sustainable Cities” will demonstrate how artists see the challenges to sustainable urban development and communicate them. It will also inform about important UN documents and events promoting sustainable urban development, such as the UN Sustainable Development Goals, including Goal 11 on making cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable; the recently-endorsed Geneva UN Charter on Sustainable Housing; and the United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development – HABITAT III (Quito, Ecuador, 17-20 October 2016).


The exhibition will be opened on 5 October 2015 at 13:00 in the Hall in front of Delegates Bar, Building A, Third Floor, Palais des Nations, by Michael Møller, UNOG Director-General, Christian Friis Bach, UNECE Executive Secretary, and Paolo Naldini, Cittadellarte Foundation Director. A dance performance by “Dansons comme Noureev”, a Geneva dance school, will conclude the opening ceremony.


The exhibition will be open to visitors from 5 to 24 October.

The closing day of the exhibition coincides with the inauguration day of the Rebirth Sculpture, a project by Cittadellarte Foundation and Maestro Michelangelo Pistoletto, at the Ariana Park.


For more information, please visit: http://www.unece.org/housing/worldhabitatday2015
or contact:
Ms. Gulnara Roll, Head
Housing and Land Management Unit
Email: [email protected]
Phone: +41 (0)22 917 22 57

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