Urban Development Series Knowledge Papers
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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 On the Engagement of Excluded Groups in Inclusive Cities: Highlighting Good Practices and Key Challenges in the Global South(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2016-02) Mitlin, Diana Clare; Satterthwaite, DavidThe term “inclusive cities” is increasingly being used as a “catch-all” phrase to signify intent but with little precision in its use. In this note we use “inclusive cities” to mean cities in which we see a commitment to an inclusive politics with the establishment of institutionalized interactions between organized groups of disadvantaged citizens and the state with local government taking a primary role. They are also cities in which governments have undertaken specific measures to secure improved access for low-income and otherwise disadvantaged groups to a range of essential goods and services including secure tenure for housing, inclusion in access to basic services and where required approval of and support for housing improvements. This note begins by considering who is excluded and from what and how. Seven challenges to the achievement of more inclusive cities are discussed: (i) lack of household income and the continuing prevalence of informal incomes; (ii) a lack of state investment capacity; (iii) a lack of political will; (iv) a lack of the basic data needed for identifying and addressing exclusion; (v) a lack of space for participation, especially by the lowest income groups; (vi) a lack of vision for what an inclusive city means within city government; and (vii) the constraints on inclusion from city governments organized sectorally. The note then discusses the metrics and indicators that can help inclusion and that have relevance for the post-2015 sustainable development agenda. These are challenges that governments and communities must tackle through their collective efforts. In terms of collaboration between groups, three particular challenges must be addressed:(i) to avoid being partial in their efforts and so to reach out to all groups in the city through finding forms of engagement that incentivize a breadth of activities drawing in all of those in need; (ii) to set up processes that outlive specific administrations or interests and that provide for continuity in collaboration between civil society and the state in each city; and (iii) to link across cities and city regions. We see a need to think about collaboration and joint efforts between city administration and surrounding municipalities, as well as a need to link experiences and efforts across cities. This should help in ensuring appropriate central government policies, regulatory frameworks, and the redistribution of resources.Publication Urban Agriculture : Findings from Four City Case Studies(Washington, DC, 2013-07) World BankUrban agriculture contributes to local economic development, poverty alleviation, the social inclusion of the urban poor and women, as well as to the greening of the city and the productive reuse of urban wastes. Urban agriculture encompasses a wide variety of production systems in both urban as well as peri-urban areas. This study examines the contribution of urban agriculture to livelihoods, food security, health, and the urban environment through an assessment of existing urban agriculture activities among poor households in four selected cities. Another important benefit from urban agricultural production is in the cash savings from self-produced food that would otherwise have to be purchased. The role and importance of urban agriculture will likely increase with urbanization and climate change, so the integration of urban agriculture into development strategies and policy decisions would be important for long-term sustainability. This report is structured according to the basic framework mentioned above. Chapter two then summarizes the key findings from the four city case studies, analyzing the profiles of urban agriculture in each city, including the agricultural practices pursued, access to and use of urban land, as well as examining the available data for evidence of the importance of urban agriculture for livelihoods and food security. Chapter two also discusses the main findings from the case studies on the constraints facing urban agriculture. Chapter three then provides various recommendations for strengthening urban agriculture and addressing these constraints, recognizing that these need to be considered in light of the broader urban development agenda and the many competing priorities that cities face. The annexes to this report describe the methodology used for the city case studies, and provide detailed information on each city, including a general city profile, the urban agricultural practices in each city, the inputs used and outputs produced, and the income, expenditure, dwelling and food consumption profiles of residents.Publication Financing the Urban Expansion in Tanzania(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2012-01) Sarzin, Zara; Raich, UriThis paper seeks to develop estimates of the net cost of the urban expansion in Tanzania. The paper focuses on developing estimates of the cost of planning and servicing land for new residential urban settlement. It does not attempt to develop detailed estimates of the cost of addressing infrastructure backlogs which would include the retrofitting of basic urban infrastructure to unplanned areas. On the revenue side, estimates of current spending in urban areas takes into account urban Local Government Authority (LGA) budgets as well as sectoral spending in urban areas (e.g., in the water sector). A number of assumptions were made to estimate both costs and revenues. These assumptions have been set conservatively, therefore, estimates of the net cost of the urban expansion are considered to be on the lower end of the possible range. These estimates can inform discussions on future investment needs of urban LGAs. They may also serve as the basis for analyzing options for financing each type of infrastructure; for determining what might be financed publicly versus privately, what might be financed with current funds versus credit, what might be financed with local versus national funds; and to determine the spatial arrangement of infrastructure to maximize efficiency, equity and sustainability. This paper focuses on estimating the cost of providing a basic package of urban infrastructure to service new residential neighborhoods. While urban population growth will multiply demands for infrastructure spanning commercial, industrial and residential areas of the city, this paper focuses on residential areas only. Additionally, while urban population growth can potentially lead to the densification of existing (planned and unplanned) urban areas as well as the growth of new urban settlements, this paper focuses on infrastructure provision in new urban settlements, with cost estimates based on the assumption that these areas will be planned. This is a significant simplifying assumption since in Tanzania the majority of urban development is unregulated.Publication The Urban Rehabilitation of Medinas : The World Bank Experience in the Middle East and North Africa(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2010-05) Bigio, Anthony G.; Licciardi, GuidoThe paper presents the key objectives for the rehabilitation of historic centers or medinas in the Middle East and North Africa as elaborated by the World Bank on the basis of twenty years of past and present lending and technical assistance operations to the governments of the region. These are: 1) the conservation of the urban and cultural heritage; 2) the local economic development of the historic city; and 3) the improvement of the living conditions of the resident population. The paper presents some innovative ways to classify the contemporary users of the medinas into different catagories which then become the market segments to reach via the rehabilitation initiatives given the readically changed present role of historic cities as urban cores of much larger urban agglomerations.The paper reviews the financial and fiscal instrucments that can be used to mobilize the necessary resources, including the roles of scaled up private sector investments and of internaitonal development financing in support of national and local governments. As sustainale culutral tourism I sput forth as the main economic rationale for investment of financial reosurces in medina rehabilitation, the paper also presents an innovative multi-vriteria index to determine the tourism potential of historic cities in the region, which has been recently used in the case of Morocco for a national strategy for the rehabilitation of its historic cities.