+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Dear Sir/Madam, Please find below the second issue of the Urban Observer - 2003. ============================================== T H E U R B A N O B S E R V E R ============================================== 2nd Edition 2003 The Global Urban Observatory's Newsletter Apologies for cross-postings ============================================== IN THIS ISSUE ============================================== - Welcome to the Urban Observer - Free GIS Software for 1000 Cities - Slum Area Identification in Kenya - Webshots: Environmental Urban Indicators in Colombia - Conferences, Courses and Events - New recipient to the Urban Observer? - Our Contacts ============================================== Welcome to the URBAN OBSERVER ============================================== The Urban Observer is a quarterly newsletter published by the Global Urban Observatory Section (GUO), Monitoring Systems Branch (Urban Secretariat), United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT). It provides information about the Global Urban Observatory network and constitutes a platform for exchanging experiences and lessons learned from national and local urban observatories. Let us know if you want to post information related to urban monitoring and urban indicators, here! ============================================== Free GIS Software for 1000 Cities ============================================== ESRI, a leading GIS software company, supports UN-HABITAT's GIS activities with up to 1000 free GIS software packages. The offer includes and one year license and access to free ESRI online training courses. The software packages offered through this grant programme are ArcView 3, ArcView 8, or ArcInfo 8 (only one of the three per recipient). The programme is implemented by the Global Urban Observatory. Eligible are governmental and non-governmental organisations in developing and transitional countries that want to use GIS for urban monitoring at the local or national level. The GUO has established a set of criteria to select recipients, the main ones being the applicant's capacity to implement and maintain a GIS for urban monitoring purposes, and use the results of a GIS for urban policy formulation. Current holders of an ESRI software license are not eligible. To learn how your institution / organisation can become part of this programme, send an email to martin.raithelhuber@unhabitat.org . =================================================== Slum Area Identification in Kenya =================================================== The GUO together with the Central Bureau of Statistics, Kenya, the Department of Housing, and Nairobi City Council carried out a pilot project to identify all slum areas in Nairobi, Kenya. For the first time, slum areas / informal settlements were officially defined in the city, and the Central Bureau of Statistics generated an official estimate of Nairobi's slum population using 1999 Population and Housing Census data. This exercise also provided the base information necessary for further monitoring and analysis, e.g. for the Millennium Development Goals Country Report and for the Kenya Demographic and Health Survey 2003, which for the first time will include a slum stratum. The methodology developed through this pilot project was successfully tested in a second Kenyan town, Mombasa, in 2003, and will be replicated in other countries. This low-cost methodology uses a set of four indicators to determine whether a census district (about 100 houses) is characterized by slum conditions. Later on, this information is linked to the national census data. All census information can now be analyzed according to slum and non-slum population. If you are interested in receiving a more detailed description of the methodology, please, contact the GUO (guo@unhabitat.org). ====================================================== Webshots: Environmental Urban Indicators in Colombia ====================================================== The City of Armenia, a Local Urban Observatory in Colombia, is the newest member of the Environmental Urban Indicators System in this Latin-American country. The website of this network contains a wealth of information on environmental conditions in seven cities, so far, however, only in Spanish language: http://web.minambiente.gov.co/oau/ ============================================== Conferences and Events ============================================== - 19th Governing Council of UN-HABITAT, 05 to 09 May 2003, Nairobi, Kenya. Among the key issues to be discussed are the work programme and budget of UN-HABITAT, follow-up to Istanbul +5, dialogues on effective decentralization and strengthening local authorities, and cooperation with UNEP. The two special themes of the conference are on urban development and shelter strategies for the poor and rural dimension of sustainable urban development. - ENHR (European Network for Housing Research) conference to be held in Tirana, Albania, on May 26-28, 2003, "Making Cities Work: Comparing "Transitional" and "Developed" Urban and Housing Models". More information at http://www.enhr2003tirana.albnet.net - The Dutch government is offering fellowships to experienced professionals from a selected number of countries. Applicants from Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, Tzech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Croatia, Yugoslavia, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Romania, Belarus, Ukrania, Russian Federation, Turkey and Yugoslavia are entitled to the fellowship programme for the training programme "Inner City Development in Transitional Economies", 25.06. - 12.09.03. For more information mail to Claudio Acioly (c.acioly@ihs.nl). ============================================== New recipient to the Urban Observer? ============================================== This issue has been sent to a number of new recipients, including all persons or institutions that have shown interest in the Global Urban Observatory, recently or in the past, and are on email. If you feel that the Urban Observer should be sent to an email address different from the one we are using now, or you want a friend or colleague to receive the Urban Observer, please, contact us. ============================================== OUR CONTACTS ============================================== Global Urban Observatory UN-HABITAT P.O. Box 30030 - Nairobi 00100 - Kenya Tel: 254-2-623119 Fax: 254-2-623080 Website: www.unhabitat.org/guo Email: guo@unhabitat.org