[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 18]
[House]
[Page 23755]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           WORLD HABITAT DAY

  (Mr. MILLER of North Carolina asked and was given permission to 
address the House for 1 minute.)
  Mr. MILLER of North Carolina. Mr. Speaker, in 1985 the United Nations 
General Assembly designated the first Monday in October as World 
Habitat Day. This year, the theme is Planning Our Urban Future.
  Approximately half of the world's population now lives in urban 
areas, and that number will rise to two-thirds in a generation. Cities 
can be engines for economic growth; but they can also become home to 
extreme poverty, disease, environmental degradation, and conflict. In 
many parts of the world, government policies do not adequately respond 
to the challenges of growing urban populations.
  Nearly one-third of the world's population of people living in cities 
around the world now already live in slums, and that number will also 
rise to double what it is now in 30 years.
  I rise today to honor World Habitat Day and the goal of improved 
urban planning. We can have a sustainable prosperous future, but only 
if we help the rural cities address the needs that come from explosive 
growth.

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