Person: Maria, Augustin
Social, Urban, Rural, and Resilience Global Practice
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Author Name Variants
Maria, Augustin, Maria, A.
Fields of Specialization
Urban development, Municipal management, Slum upgrading, Disaster risk management, Water supply and sanitation, Local economic development
Degrees
ORCID
Departments
Social, Urban, Rural, and Resilience Global Practice
Externally Hosted Work
Contact Information
Last updated:June 2, 2025
Biography
Augustin Maria is a Senior Urban Specialist at the World Bank and the Program Manager of the World Bank City Climate Finance Gap Fund. Since joining the World Bank in 2008, he has worked in Latin America, the Middle East and North Africa, and South Asia on issues related to urban development and disaster risk management. He graduated as an engineer from the Ecole des Mines in Paris and holds a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Paris-Dauphine.
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Publication Banking on Cities: Investing in Resilient and Low-Carbon Urbanization(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-06-03) Deuskar, Chandan; Murray, Sally; Leiva Molano, Juan Sebastián; Khan, Ibrahim Ali; Maria, AugustinCities around the world are responsible for ever-growing shares of people, assets, and economic activities vulnerable to climate disasters. They are also responsible for the majority of the world’s carbon emissions. Cities in low- and middle-income countries still have a window of opportunity to grow in resilient and low-carbon ways, to protect their populations and build strong and sustainable economic foundations. What are the resilient and low-carbon investments that these cities could make in the coming decades? How much will these investments cost, and where can cities look for resources to pay for these investments? These are the questions that Banking on Cities: Investing in Resilient and Low-Carbon Urbanization considers. The publication provides the most comprehensive and up-to-date assessment of key resilient and low-carbon investment costs in major urban sectors in all low- and middle-income countries to 2050. These include investments in urban transportation, energy-efficient buildings, solid waste management, water and wastewater, flood protection, and heat resilience. The estimated total cost of these investments revealed by this analysis is sobering: between US$256 and US$821 billion per year. However, “climate” investments are not a separate category of investments that cities need to make in addition to their regular investments. These are core urban investments that cities need to make for their local economic and social benefits in addition to their climate benefits. Banking on Cities advances the discussion on urban climate finance by exploring how cities can identify sources of funding and finance that are suited to different types of resilient and low-carbon urban investments. Just as climate investments are not a separate category of investments, climate finance is not necessarily a separate category of finance. While climate-specific sources, including carbon markets, green bonds, and others, are part of the picture, making these investments will require cities to address their financial fundamentals, including revenues, transfers, creditworthiness, and fiscal efficiency. This report will be a helpful guide for cities and national governments as they develop their urban investment strategies.Publication Leveraging Urbanization to Promote a New Growth Model While Reducing Territorial Disparities in Morocco: Urban and Regional Development Policy Note(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2019-06-14) Lall, Somik; Mahgoub, Ayah; Maria, Augustin; Touati, Anastasia; Acero, Jose LuisToday 60 percent of Moroccans reside in urban areas, as opposed to 35 percent in 1970. By 2050, nearly three-quarters of the country’s population will be living in cities. Along with the concentration of people, urbanization will lead to the increasing concentration of economic activities in cities, which today are estimated to account for about 75 percent of the country’s GDP and 70 percent of investments at the national level. To accompany these transformations, the Moroccan government has adopted, in recent years, ambitious programs to improve living standards in urban and rural areas. Significant improvements in living standards have been achieved through national master plans. Cities are the engines of today’s demographic and economic growth in Morocco, but they also face persistent challenges. Despite substantial public investments and strong potential for cities to absorb rural poverty, important pockets of urban poverty remain. Spatial disparities are a major cause for concern both for citizens as well as for national and local governments. In addition, Moroccan cities are not delivering on their full potential. Urbanization has not generated the same growth benefits in Morocco as it has in many other countries with similar contexts. These patterns suggest that Morocco needs specific policies to improve returns from its urbanization process. The main message of this note is that urbanization and spatial equity are not competing objectives when urbanization is supported and managed well. Well-managed urbanization allows for economies of scale in the provision of services and the development of more efficient labor. This note identifies priority actions to be taken at national, regional, and local levels to allow public authorities to act within a coherent framework and to help urban development to boost economic growth and promote shared prosperity for all.Publication Central America Urbanization Review: Making Cities Work for Central America(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2017-03-15) Maria, Augustin; Acero, Jose Luis; Aguilera, Ana I.; Garcia Lozano, Marisa; Maria, Augustin; Acero, Jose Luis; Aguilera, Ana I.; Garcia Lozano, Marisa; Andersson, Mats; Parby, Jonas Ingemann; Mason, David Ryan; Sanahuja, Haris; Ishizawa, Oscar A.; Solé, AlbertCentral America is undergoing an important transition. Urban populations are increasing at accelerated speeds, bringing pressing challenges for development, as well as opportunities to boost sustained, inclusive and resilient growth. Today, 59 percent of the region’s population lives in urban areas, but it is expected that 7 out of 10 people will live in cities within the next generation. At current rates of urbanization, Central America’s urban population will double in size by 2050, welcoming over 25 million new urban dwellers calling for better infrastructure, higher coverage and quality of urban services and greater employment opportunities. With more people concentrated in urban areas, Central American governments at the national and local levels face both opportunities and challenges to ensure the prosperity of their country’s present and future generations. The Central America Urbanization Review: Making Cities Work for Central America provides a better understanding of the trends and implications of urbanization in the six Central American countries -Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama- and the actions that central and local governments can take to reap the intended benefits of this transformation. The report makes recommendations on how urban policies can contribute to addressing the main development challenges the region currently faces such as lack of social inclusion, high vulnerability to natural disasters, and lack of economic opportunities and competitiveness. Specifically, the report focuses on four priority areas for Central American cities: institutions for city management, access to adequate and well-located housing, resilience to natural disasters, and competitiveness through local economic development. This book is written for national and local policymakers, private sector actors, civil society, researchers and development partners in Central America and all around the world interested in learning more about the opportunities that urbanization brings in the 21st century.Publication Understanding India's Urban Frontier: What Is Behind the Emergence of Census Towns in India?(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2016-12) Mukhopadhyay, Partha; Zerah, Marie-Helene; Samanta, Gopa; Maria, AugustinThis paper presents the results of an investigation of selected census towns in northern India. Census towns are settlements that India's census classifies as urban although they continue to be governed as rural settlements. The 2011 census featured a remarkable increase in the number of census towns, which nearly tripled between 2001 and 2011, from 1,362 to 3,894. This increase contributed to nearly a third (29.5 percent) of the total increase in the urban population during this period. Only part of this evolution can be attributed to the gradual urbanization of settlements in the vicinity or larger towns. Instead, the majority of census towns appear as small "market towns," providing trade and other local services to a growing rural market. The case studies of representative census towns in Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa, and West Bengal show the role of increased connectivity and growing rural incomes in driving the demand for the small-scale and non-tradable services, which are the main sources of nonfarm employment in these settlements. The case studies also reveal that the trade-offs between urban and rural administrative statuses are actively debated in many of these settlements. Although statistical comparisons do not show a significant impact of urban or rural administrative status on access to basic services, urban status is often favored by the social groups involved in the growing commercial and services sectors, and resisted by the residents still involved in the traditional farming sectors.