The United Nations Human Settlements Programme, UN-HABITAT, is tasked with promoting "socially and environmentally sustainable towns and cities with the goal of providing adequate shelter for all." The agency's new executive director, former Barcelona mayor Joan Clos, gave his first formal address to the UN General Assembly and outlined some of the priorities for improving settlements in the coming the years.
Clos started with some good news: between 2000 and 2010, the lives of 230 million slum dwellers were improved - an achievement that exceeds the Millennium Development Goal target of…