Hosting of KRIHS-IDB “Habitat III Side Event”

The Global Development Partnership Center (GDPC) of Korea Research Institute for Human Settlements (KRIHS) on Oct. 17 (Mon.) co-hosted a side event with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) to discuss policy directions for informal residential areas at Habitat III in Quito, Ecuador. The event featured the changing process of Korea’s housing policy and Latin America’s housing shortage and informal residential regions, after which how Korea’s experience could be applied to Latin America was discussed.

KRIHS President Kim Dongju gave the opening speech at the side event, after which Juan Pablo Bonilla, manager of the IDB's Climate Change and Sustainable Development Sector (CSD), gave a welcoming speech. Announcements on comparative cases studies of Latin America and Korea followed. Andres Blanco, IDB senior specialist in urban development and housing, gave a presentation on the results of policy responses to Latin America’s housing problems and issues and their severity. Then Park Misun, associate research fellow at the GDPC, gave a presentation on changes in Korea’s housing situation over the years and the results of Seoul’s policy responses between Habitat I in 1976 and Habitat III this year, sharing the main sectoral targets of Habitat proposals. And finally, Pedro Abramo, a professor at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, compared the changing faces of informal residential areas and policy responses of Korea and Latin America, as well as the results and limits of such policies.

The subsequent discussion focused on which points and issues to consider when applying case studies from Korea to Latin America, and stressed the importance of an integrated approach toward urban and housing planning and the roles of the central and regional governments. Attending the event were about 120 high-ranking government officials, policymakers and specialists from the region, including Paraguay’s housing and habitat minister and the head of Mexico’s National Housing Commission (CONAVI).
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