3 October 2006 - On Monday 3 October the yearly World Habitat Day was held in Concordia in The Hague, organised by the Habitat Platform. ECORYS was present with a stand and a lecture, held by Associate Partner Bert de Graaf.

The World Habitat Day is there to give attention to the enormous worlwide urban growth and living conditions of people in urban slums. This years Habitat Day was held under the title 'How rich is the city?'. The central theme was the role money plays in improving living conditions in rapidly growing cities in developing countries.

ECORYS was present at this event. Associate partner Bert de Graaf did a lecture on 'Investing in the city of the future'. In this lecture, Bert de Graaf talked about passed growth of cities, its socioeconomic relevance, the connection between prosperity and well-being en the prerequisites for stimulating structural ans lasting urban development.

Later in the programme a film was shown which examined the way access to credit in developing countries can serve as a catalyst for further improvements in living and housing conditions. In the second lecture of the day, Renée Hoogendoorn of ING Real Estate Development spoke about the role of property developers in taking decisions on ivestments in developing countries.

In the afternoon programme, people partook in workshops on financing and on human and other types of capital in cities. Finally, there was the opportunity for visitors to participate in 10-minute discussions with experts to get advice on procet plans, financing and preconditions.

Alongside the congress programme, a trade fair was organised for the visitors. ECORYS was there with a stand to showcase our expertise in the area of habitat and financing.