The   period from 1990-1995 has witnessed a number of international conferences dealing with issues about improving the way of life of human beings in different aspects such as education for all individuals, the environment, development, earth and human rights, population and social development as well as women issues. The result of these conferences was the crystallization of the concept of urban development and persistence as well as determining priorities of the continuity of human settlements.  

Parallel to these efforts and at the same time the UN, represented by the UN-Habitat decided to expand the housing indicators program with the cooperation of the International bank to include a large scale of urban indicators that cover all issues relating to the urban sector through which the conditions of cities can be monitored in general and which also introduced subjects presented in the first Habitat conference, these indicators were called broad or extensive indicators:

1.     In 1994 and in a specialists' meeting 129 major indicators were determined and approved by the preparatory committee for the second habitat conference.

2.     In 1995 these indicators were reduced by international specialists to become minimally 46 major indicators. The countries participating in the second habitat conference had to present it together with a national report.

The incoming information from international specialists about countries and cities was analyzed, and on a regional and semi regional level, indicators were used to analyze the variation and differences among cities using statistical indicators gathered from several indicators such as human development guide and the guide for the quality of urban life, the city development guide, guide for a good management, guide for measuring the contribution of the civil community and the guide for urban poverty. Through it they were able to pinpoint the top ten cities in development and the bottom ten cities.