Urban Development Series Knowledge Papers
19 items available
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Produced by the World Bank’s Urban Development and Resilience Unit of the Sustainable Development Network, the Urban Development Series discusses the challenge of urbanization and what it will mean for developing countries in the decades ahead. The Series aims to explore and delve more substantively into the core issues framed by the World Bank’s 2009 Urban Strategy Systems of Cities: Harnessing Urbanization for Growth and Poverty Alleviation. Across the five domains of the Urban Strategy, the Series provides a focal point for publications that seek to foster a better understanding of (i) the core elements of the city system, (ii) pro-poor policies, (iii) city economies, (iv) urban land and housing markets, (v) sustainable urban environment, and other urban issues germane to the urban development agenda for sustainable cities and communities.
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Publication
Climate-resilient, Climate-friendly World Heritage Cities
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2014-06)While the negative impacts of climate change on urban areas are well-known and widely discussed, its implicit impacts on historic downtowns have not been studied as extensively. In recent years, cultural heritage conservation and valorization have increasingly become drivers of local economic development. Many projects supported by the World Bank in this field help leverage cultural heritage for economic development while developing infrastructure and services for residents and enhancing the livability of cities. The World Bank has also been very active in addressing climate change risks and increasing resiliency of urban areas. This paper is an effort to merge these two critical agendas. The paper investigates the impacts of climate change on 237 world heritage cities (WHC) and provides an overview of the geographic distribution of these cities around the globe. It discusses the importance of historic downtowns and provides various options available to the governments of these cities to address risk mitigation and adaptation to climate change. Further, it provides examples of WHC which have taken action to address vulnerability to the adverse impacts of climate change. This report is organized in following five sections: section one presents an overview of WHC, geographic distribution, and the growth of the urban agglomerations to which they belong. Section two presents the natural hazard risks and climate change impacts facing WHC, their location on the coastline or interior, and their rank in terms of level of vulnerability. Section three outlines the characteristics that historic cities have in terms of carbon emissions and potential for climate change mitigation. Section four discusses the sources of financing which WHC may turn to in order to address climate change mitigation and adaptation. Section five presents the climate change adaptation and mitigation action plans being implemented in the WHC of Paris, Tunis, Edinburgh, Mexico City, Hue, and Quito. -
Publication
Building Sustainability in an Urbanizing World : A Data Compendium for the World's 100 Largest Urban Areas
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2013-07)Cities are hubs of global change, and their global influence continues to grow. Cities contribute significantly to global challenges like climate change and biodiversity loss. At the same time, cities experience impacts like climate change first and with greatest intensity. Further, cities are becoming leaders worldwide in efforts to address global environmental and social problems. Some of the most important smaller-scale agreements and partnerships emerging from Rio+20 (the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development) were initiated by or focused on cities. Even as the conference reinforced the increasing difficulty of reaching consensus on global challenges, it also saw smaller-scale agreements and partnerships emerge. Some of the most important "microagreements" focused on cities. -
Publication
Investment in Urban Heritage : Economic Impacts of Cultural Heritage Projects in FYR Macedonia and Georgia
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2012-09)Although World Bank projects in the cultural heritage field are subject to the usual assessments that are applied to any project implementation, little is known about the subsequent performance of these projects in the years post-completion. This study was undertaken to provide some empirical evidence for the economic impacts of cultural heritage investment. Two case studies were chosen for this purpose, in the historic town centers of Skopje, former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, and Tbilisi, Georgia, respectively. The economic principles those are important for the analysis of cultural heritage investment decisions make use of concepts such as scarcity, opportunity cost, and public preferences. The study confirms the positive impacts of the investments. In the Macedonian case, the project helped to stimulate an ongoing investment of US$2.5 million in the project site, the Skopje old bazaar. Tourist numbers increased compared to the control site in Prilep; between 2005 and 2010, daily tourist numbers in the Skopje Old Bazaar increased by 90 percent compared to a slight decline in Prelip. Employment also grew more rapidly in the target site than in the control area. This study leads to some lessons for the design of heritage projects and for the conduct of an ex post economic impact evaluation. -
Publication
Guidebook on Capital Investment Planning for Local Governments
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2011-10)The purpose of this guidebook is to provide practical advice to local governments (LGs) in developing countries on how to establish and maintain a process of planning and funding capital investment as a regular activity integrated with other activities of the LG and based on principles of good public management. The guidebook is addressed mainly to cities that have not yet established such a process or are interested in revising their current processes. The guidebook is written for decision makers and technical experts in LGs who are engaged or should be engaged in this process. The guidebook is designed primarily for urban LGs, but much of the information is useful for mixed or rural jurisdictions as well. This guidebook also is useful for the staffs of donor agencies and/or consultants who assist cities in municipal development projects. This guidebook is one instrument integrated with other World Bank urban programs and instruments that support sustainable urban development in developing countries within the framework of the World Bank Urban and Local Government Strategy. These other urban programs include the: (1) Urbanization Review Framework (URF), which provides macro-level diagnostic tools to identify key policy issues related to urbanization and the investment priorities for it; (2) Eco2: Ecological Cities as Economic Cities (city or metropolitan sustainable urban development initiative that assists developing country cities to achieve environmental and economic sustainability; and (3) Disaster Risk Management Program (DRM). This guidebook will help LGs prepare specific capital investment plans (CIPs) based on their national urbanization strategies and city-based sustainable urban development plans elaborated through the Eco2 initiative and/or various Disaster Risk Management Program (DRM) instruments. The guidebook will be especially useful to LGs if they have adopted their urbanization strategies and established clear investment priorities. -
Publication
Cities and Climate Change : An Urgent Agenda
(Washington, DC, 2010-12)The report discusses the link between climate change and cities, why cities should be concerned about climate change and adopt early preventative policies, and how the World Bank and other organizations can provide further support to cities on climate change issues. The report is one in a series of activities that explore the nexus of cities and climate change. This report, cities and climate change: an urgent agenda focuses on three broad issues pertaining to cities and climate change. This paper argues that climate change is an urgent agenda for cities for two reasons. First, climate change is a cumulative process. Second, embracing the climate change agenda now makes eminent sense from an individual city's perspective, be it economic, social, or political. It shows that the city is part of the global sustainable development agenda. This report presents an urgent situation. In rapidly growing cities, especially in Asia, current development paths are locking in emissions and lifestyles. Many people, particularly the poor, are already affected by climate change. The next decade will be particularly challenging. Cities will take a more active role in global dialogues and policy development as citizen's demand more comprehensive and immediate responses from all levels of government.