History of IIED’s urban work IIED began work on urban themes in
1974 when its president, Barbara Ward, was invited by the
Canadian government to write a global overview of urban issues.
This book, entitled The Home of Man, was one of three that Ward
wrote in the 1970s that reached a large audience with IIED’s
concern for both environment and development. In 1976, IIED
helped the Canadian government to organize Habitat, the first UN
Conference on Human Settlements. To support the interest in
urban issues generated by this conference. IIED invited the
Argentine urbanist, Jorge E. Hardoy, to establish a Human
Settlements Programme in 1977. The work began with teams in the
Sudan, Nigeria, India and Argentina and included assessments of
the effectiveness of governments and international agencies in
housing and urban development and research on the health and
environmental problems faced by low-income groups. Work was also
undertaken on the role of small and intermediate sized urban
centres in rural and regional de