The records in this fonds are related to the United Nations Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat) and the UN Commission on Human Settlements.

The United Nations Conference on Human Settlements was first held May 31-June 11, 1976 in Vancouver. Known as Habitat (later Habitat I), the conference was created to address human settlements issues including policies and strategies, settlement planning; shelter, infrastructure and social services, land use, public participation, and institutions and management. Habitat I was made up of the official UN conference as well as concurrent unofficial events known as the Habitat Forum. The events included an extensive audio-visual programme, and Vision Habitat was established to administer and maintain the audio-visual materials following the conference.

Now known as the UN Human Settlements Program (UN-Habitat), it continues the work started in the 1970s, including Habitat II (Istanbul, Turkey in 1996) and Habitat III (Quito, Ecuador in 2016), as well as numerous World Urban Forums—the third Forum bringing Habitat back to Vancouver in 2006.

The Association in Canada Serving Organizations for Human Settlements (ACSOH) was responsible for the unofficial, NGO and community engagement and the Habitat Forum.

The Centre for Human Settlements, part of the School of Community and Regional Planning (SCARP) at the University of British Columbia, was opened as a result of Habitat, to encourage settlement research and serve as a repository for audio-visual materials of Habitat. Dr. H. Peter Oberlander founded and served as director of both SCARP and the Centre for Human Settlements, and was involved in Habitat I. Oberlander was part of the Canadian delegations to the UN Commission on Human Settlements, he advocated to bring the 2006 World Urban Forum 3 to Vancouver, and he served as special assistant to the Secretary-General for Habitat II.