The World Urban Forum is a UN-HABITAT-sponsored event held every two years for civil society, national governments, municipal leaders, academics, community- based organizations, private sector representatives, and urban professionals to share experiences on how to make our cities and communities better places to live.

Hosted by the Government of Canada in cooperation with UN-HABITAT, and organized by the GLOBE Foundation, the Third Session of the World Urban Forum (WUF3) took place in Vancouver, British Columbia, June 19-23, 2006. The Forum marked the 30th anniversary of the first United Nations Habitat Conference, also held in Vancouver, in 1976.

Having Vancouver as the site of WUF3 was important not only for historical reasons, but also because the city is considered a model of sustainable urban development.

Twenty-five thousand people registered for WUF3, and over 10,000 participants came to Vancouver from more than 150 countries. This was more than double the participation level at the Second Session of the World Urban Forum (WUF2) in Barcelona in 2004, making WUF3 one of the largest United Nations meetings held in the last two years. Although participation from the Americas was very strong, participation from outside of North America was also impressive, with almost half of the top ten countries represented in Vancouver coming from the developing world.

Canada and UN-HABITAT were committed to ensuring that the Forum was as inclusive as possible, with participation balanced between public, private, and civil society sectors and between regions from all over the world. National governments sent 70 ministers to WUF3 and 400 mayors attended. Financial support from numerous sources helped many of these and other urban partners from around the world to participate in record numbers in Vancouver. These included representatives of local authorities, non-governmental organizations, slum dwellers, the private sector, youth, women (almost 50% of participants were female), and aboriginal peoples.

For the first time in history, the majority of the world's population lives in urban areas. The more than 100 speakers that addressed WUF3 emphasized the growing and central importance of cities and communities in the affairs of humankind. In his address, Canada's Prime Minister Stephen Harper spoke of the enduring reality of cities: “urbanization is a powerful, irresistible phenomenon…. Throughout history, great cities have been a hallmark of successful societies.”

Anna Tibaijuka, the Executive Director of UN-HABITAT, reinforced the Prime Minister's words and highlighted the need for political attention on urban issues: “Clearly, if the evolution of urban governance is to keep pace with the revolution of urbanization, our politics must also become urbanized. New ideas, from urban policy and urban finance, investment priorities, to tenure reform and participatory decision-making, can help update the political landscape by planting the city – as the essential ‘community of communities' – squarely in the mainstream of national and international politics.”

Speakers and participants at WUF3 emphasized that meeting the challenges of rapid urbanization did not mean stopping the growth of cities, but determining how they could grow in a sustainable way. As Katherine Sierra of the World Bank confirmed, “attempts by governments to control urban-rural migration flows have all ended in failure. We think it is time, rather, to focus on the positive impacts of urbanization, and to introduce policies to make cities more inclusive and more efficient.”

Diane Finley, the co-chair of WUF3 and Canada's Minister of Human Resources and Social Development and Minister responsible for Housing, focused on the key objectives of the Forum: “As host of the World Urban Forum, Canada's goal is to make this meeting practical and action-oriented. We want to help you forge meaningful networks and partnerships, to pick up workable concepts, and to come with the energy and enthusiasm to turn good ideas into great actions.”