Representatives from 132 nations assembled in Vancouver in June of 1976 to convene HABITAT, the United Nations Conference on Human Settlements. The Conference was a global inquiry into solutions of the critical and urgent problems of human settlements created by the convergence of two historic events: unprecedentedly high rates of population growth and massive rural to urban migration. 

Rapidly growing populations strain health and education budgets, complicate efforts to utilize a nation's manpower efficiently, and exacerbate problems connected with the provision of adequate supplies and food, energy, water, housing, and transport and sanitary facilities. A better understanding of the dynamics and consequences of population growth, particularly with regard to resource and service demands, is therefore an essential ingredient for informed policymaking.