Inclusive Urbanization

How do we include and represent all people in cities? As the world rapidly urbanizes, and climate change creates global winners and losers, understanding how to design cities that provide for all their citizens is of the utmost importance. Inclusive Urbanization attempts to not only provide meaningful, practical guidance to urban designers, managers, and local actors, but also create a definition of inclusion that incorporates strategies bigger than the welfare state, and tactics that bring local actors and the state into meaningful dialogue. Written by a team of experienced academics, designers, and NGO professionals, Inclusive Urbanization shows how urbanization policy and management can be used to make more inclusive, climate resilient cities, through a series of 18 case studies in South Asia. By creating a model of urban life and processes that takes into account social, spatial, cultural, regulatory and economic dimensions, the book finds a way to make both the processes and outcomes of urban design representative of all of the city’s inhabitants.

How do we include and represent all people in cities? As the world rapidly urbanizes, and climate change creates global winners and losers, understanding how to design cities that provide for all their citizens is of the utmost importance. Inclusive Urbanization attempts to not only provide meaningful, practical guidance to urban designers, managers, and local actors, but also create a definition of inclusion that incorporates strategies bigger than the welfare state, and tactics that bring local actors and the state into meaningful dialogue. Written by a team of experienced academics, designers, and NGO professionals, Inclusive Urbanization shows how urbanization policy and management can be used to make more inclusive, climate resilient cities, through a series of 18 case studies in South Asia. By creating a model of urban life and processes that takes into account social, spatial, cultural, regulatory and economic dimensions, the book finds a way to make both the processes and outcomes of urban design representative of all of the city’s inhabitants.

Inclusive Urban Development in the Global South emphasizes the importance of the neighbourhood in urban development planning, with case studies aimed at transforming current intervention practices towards more inclusive and just means of engagement with individuals and communities. The chapters explore how diversity of gender, class, race and ethnicity, citizenship status, age, ability, and sexuality is taken (or not taken) into account and approached in the planning and implementation of development policy and interventions in poor urban areas. The book employs a practical perspective on the deployment of theoretical critiques of intersectionality and diversity in development practice through case studies examining issues such as water and sanitation planning in Dhaka, indigenous rights to the city in Bolivia, post-colonial planning in Hong Kong, land reform in Zimbabwe, and many more. The book focuses on radical alternatives with the potential to foster urban transformations for planning and development communities working around the world.

This book presents perspectives by eminent economists, social scientists and policy makers, exploring in depth the post-reform developments in India, including issues pertaining to growth and equity, issues which have been at the core of life-time work of Prof. R. Radhakrishna. The book brings out how some public policy instruments created to promote growth have turned out to be regressive, promoting inequalities and creating a highly asymmetric federalism in India. It examines the efficacy of fiscal and monetary reforms and also emphasises the need for strengthening the institutions of governance, particularly judiciary and police, in order to boost investors’ confidence. It presents exercises in econometric modelling for explaining factors in growth and vetting policies, and explores the issue of governance and institutions. The book provides insights into the working of an emerging economy and a large democracy which has to strive for public acceptability of the tensions of its negotiations between equity and growth. With its depth of academic excellence and breadth of topics covered, it is a ‘must read’ for researchers, policy makers, industry watchers, think tanks, and NGOs.

In the last 30 years, China’s record economic growth lifted half a billion people out of poverty, with rapid urbanization providing abundant labor, cheap land, and good infrastructure. While China has avoided some of the common ills of urbanization, strains are showing as inefficient land development leads to urban sprawl and ghost towns, pollution threatens people’s health, and farmland and water resources are becoming scarce. With China’s urban population projected to rise to about one billion – or close to 70 percent of the country’s population – by 2030, China’s leaders are seeking a more coordinated urbanization process. Urban China is a joint research report by a team from the World Bank and the Development Research Center of China’s State Council which was established to address the challenges and opportunities of urbanization in China and to help China forge a new model of urbanization. The report takes as its point of departure the conviction that China's urbanization can become more efficient, inclusive, and sustainable. However, it stresses that achieving this vision will require strong support from both government and the markets for policy reforms in a number of area. The report proposes six main areas for reform: first, amending land management institutions to foster more efficient land use, denser cities, modernized agriculture, and more equitable wealth distribution; second, adjusting the hukou household registration system to increase labor mobility and provide urban migrant workers equal access to a common standard of public services; third, placing urban finances on a more sustainable footing while fostering financial discipline among local governments; fourth, improving urban planning to enhance connectivity and encourage scale and agglomeration economies; fifth, reducing environmental pressures through more efficient resource management; and sixth, improving governance at the local level.

This tool kit presents an integrated approach to inclusive urban development and was prepared for ADB staff and their partners to engage in inclusive urban development programming and implementation as an integral component of ADB’s lending programs. It presents methods to gather required information on a particular context and location for inclusive urban development; to decide priorities; and to plan, design, and implement inclusive urban projects. The operational focus is provided by practical guidelines and criteria for inclusive urban development projects and is designed to stimulate innovation in the solution and approaches that define inclusive urban development projects.

As the global population continues to increase, it has become necessary to find ways to handle this increase through various policy tools that address population growth and urbanization problems. The urbanization process has both potential issues and opportunities that need to be exploited to move societies forward. Megacities and Rapid Urbanization: Breakthroughs in Research and Practice examines trends, challenges, issues, and strategies related to population growth and rapid urbanization and its impact on urban environments. The book also explores the use of different governance approaches in addressing challenges and different tools and systems of appropriate allocation to address issues. This publication is an ideal reference source for academicians, students, practitioners, professionals, managers, urban planners, and government officials.

This publication calls all urban stakeholders to invest in child-responsive urban planning, recognizing that cities are not only drivers of prosperity, but also of inequity. Through 10 Children’s Rights and Urban Planning principles, the handbook presents concepts, evidence, tools and promising practices to create thriving and equitable cities where children live in healthy, safe, inclusive, green and prosperous communities. By focusing on children, it provides guidance on the central role that urban planning should play in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, from a global perspective to a local context.