Publication: Analyzing Urban Poverty: A Summary of Methods and Approaches
Date
2004-09
ISSN
Published
2004-09
Author(s)
Abstract
In recent years an extensive body of
literature has emerged on the definition, measurement and
analysis of poverty. Much of this literature focuses on
analyzing poverty at the national level, or spatial
disaggregation by general categories of urban or rural areas
with adjustments made for regional price differentials. Yet
for an individual city attempting to tackle the problems of
urban poverty, this level of aggregation is not sufficient
for answering specific questions such as where the poor are
located in the city, whether there are differences between
poor areas, if access to services varies by subgroup,
whether specific programs are reaching the poorest, and how
to design effective poverty reduction programs and policies.
Answering these questions is critical, particularly for
large, sprawling cities with highly diverse populations and
growing problems of urban poverty. Understanding urban
poverty presents a set of issues distinct from general
poverty analysis and thus may require additional tools and
techniques. This paper summarizes the main issues in
conducting urban poverty analysis, with a focus on
presenting a sample of case studies from urban areas that
were implemented by a number of different agencies using a
range of analytical approaches for studying urban poverty.
Specific conclusions regarding design and analysis, data,
timing, cost, and implementation issues are discussed.
Link to Data Set
Citation
“Baker, Judy; Schuler, Nina. 2004. Analyzing Urban Poverty: A Summary of Methods and Approaches. Policy Research Working Paper;No.3399. © World Bank, Washington, D.C.. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/14244 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”
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