Vancouver June 2006 and thereby commemorate the first UN Conference on Human Settlements, 30 years’ earlier. It led to a formal invitation by the Prime Minister and its acceptance by the United Nations. The World Urban Forum III attracted more than 10,000 participants and set a new standard for substantive participation and networking among public, private, and NGO groups, and citizens generally, in exchanging practical solutions to urgent environmental problems resulting from unprecedented rates of worldwide urbanization. WUF3 contributed substantively to the global recognition for the urgent need for achieving Sustainable Urbanization by “Turning Ideas into Action” through the UN with Canada's initiative. For WUF3 Oberlander prepared a substantive report on Canada/UN-HABITAT Initiatives 1976-2006 titled “Towards Sustainable Urbanization”. It provided the first documented record of Canada's leadership in the field of human settlements within the UN system. Following his lifelong commitment to the motto "Ideas into Action", Peter's final project was to establish The Habitat Exchange, an on-line portal and archive of international human settlement resources. Oberlander was posthumously awarded with the United Nations Scroll of Honour Award on World Habitat Day, October 4, 2009, for his work and dedication to improving global urban living conditions. Other activities During the 1960s, Oberlander worked extensively with Thompson, Berwick and Pratt, an architectural and planning firm in Vancouver. During the 1990s Oberlander maintained his professional involvement as Associate Partner with Downs/Archambault and Partners (now DA Architects + Planners) in Vancouver. In civic politics, he was a founder of The Electors' Action Movement and ran for office under its banner. He was Chairman of the Vancouver School Board in the 1960s, and contributed to many community projects in Vancouver, nationally and internationally. Oberlander was the UBC Professor Emeritus in Community and Regional Planning, pursuing an active research program at the UBC Centre for Human Settlements until his death. Concurrently, since 1995, he served as Adjunct Professor in Political Science at Simon Fraser University. Between 1998 and 2008, Oberlander served as a Federal Citizenship Court Judge. Personal life Oberlander was married to Order of Canada inductee and landscape architect Cornelia Hahn Oberlander. References External links World Urban Forum Archives Exchange 1922 births 2008 deaths Austrian emigrants to Canada Canadian architects 20th-century Canadian civil servants Harvard Graduate School of Design alumni Officers of the Order of Canada McGill School of Architecture alumni Jewish emigrants from Austria after the Anschluss Canadian urban planners