Father Alex Zanotelli, Combonian Missionary; Consiglia Salvio, Movement for Water ; Cesare Ottolini, Global Coordinator of IAI and member of the International Council of the WSF; and Mauro Forte, urbanist, are also invited to participate in the conference.  

The conference will be followed by a plenary session at 6 pm in the courtyard of the Faculty of Architecture, to draw up a calendar.

The 2 ^nd   USF ,  which will be held in Naples from 3 to 7 September 2012, was born as an alternative in response to the  World Urban Forum of UN-Habitat (WUF) .  The WUF  key-theme, “ The Urban Future ”, seemed more like a trade fair than a serious summit where governments take on specific commitments to confront the global urban and housing crisis.

So, the  USF 2 ^nd  Edition Appeal underlines its support of the inclusive principles of the World Social Forum (WSF)   and the need, at a local, national and international level, to develop the convergences begun experimentally and positively at the 1 ^st  World Assembly of Inhabitants in Mexico City  in 2000, and further developed by

the 1 ^st  Urban Social Forum in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 2010,

the World Assembly of Inhabitants   in Dakar, Senegal, in 2011,

the World Habitat Days in October 2011,

the Peoples' Summit   at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 2012.

They will be followed up at the next World Assembly of Inhabitant s 2013   at the WSF   in 2013.

The USF   is setting out to be a participatory platform extended to local, national and international organisations and networks (such as the Habitat International Coalition-HIC, No Vox and the International Alliance of Inhabitants-IAI) to discuss the problems caused by neoliberal policies in the territories.

Throughout this month of July, organisations belonging to the  USF   will can propose initiatives to be inserted in the calendar (debates, meetings, visits, music, events, film shows, etc. ). These must be consistent with the Appeal,  and the need to build convergences so as not to disperse our strengths.

During the first week in September, Naples will be transformed into a world capital of the struggle for the right to housing and to the city of common goods. It will involve movements of struggle and local, national and international organisations in solidarity meetings in working-class neighbourhoods, in the exchange of experience, the sharing of strategies for struggle and the production of sustainable alternatives.

The Organising Committee  is proposing a joint opening session on 3^rd . September, and a final convergence assembly during which a document will be approved with reference to our next steps summarising the common position of the USF  with regard to UN-Habitat.  

The Organising Committee has proposed a calendar based on 4 thematic days:

Day 1:  The Right to housing and to the City as a common right. Deconstructing Urban Planning Procedures :  architecture must be participatory, taking into account local people's specific needs and resources in order to satisfy the rights of all inhabitants, irrespective of their citizenship.

Day 2: Social and democratic reappropriation of the city of common goods and opposition to privatisations  - within a framework of social and environmental sustainability according to co-participatory and co-management procedures. Refusing to delegate to the organised crime of the mafias, speculation and systematic corruption the administration of territories.

Day 3:  Focus on the Right to the Sea as a Common Good - public ownership of beaches and the shore, involving organisations struggling for the right to Free Access to Beaches.

Day 4 ( last day) : Right to environment and sustainability of the cities   relative to the countrysides, and proposals to prevent the over-use and abuse of common goods (protection and management of public water, correct waste disposal and a culture of recycling, opposition to overbuilding ).

The USF  will conclude with a big Final Demonstration and Event.