Urban Governance Partnership Paper 31

Poverty and governance are both issues high on the agenda of international agencies and governments in the South. With urban areas accounting for a steadily growing share of the world's poor people, an international team of researchers focused their attention on the hitherto little-studied relationship between urban governance and urban poverty.In their timely and in-depth examination of ten cities in Africa, Asia and Latin America, they demonstrate that in many countries the global trends towards decentralization and democratization offer new opportunities for the poor to have an influence on the decisions that affect them. They also show how that influence depends on the nature of those democratic arrangements and decision-making processes at the local level, as well as on the ability of the poor to organize.The study involved interviews with key actors within and outside city governments, discussions with poverty groups, community organizations and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), as well as analyses of data on poverty, services and finance. This book presents insights, conclusions and practical examples that are of relevance for other cities. It outlines policy implications for national and local governments, NGOs and donor agencies, and highlights ways in which poor people can use their voice to influence the various institutions of city governance.

The book contains a selection of papers on urban governance in its multiple perspectives. It has evolved from the presentations made at the Third International Conference on Public Policy and Management held in 2008.The topics are grouped into several themes: Urban Plan and Governance, Urban Governance through Partnership and Participation, and Financing Urban Infrastructure. With several examples from developing nations, the book dwells into the practical and managerial aspects of urban planning, partnerships, participation, financial mobilization and effective governance. One of the highlights of the book is that it looks at financial mobilization as a strategy for governance and how the financial system in itself can be an instrument of governance.

These essays explore the utility of thinking about public-private partnerships for local economic development. A theoretical examination of theories of governance, institutions and policy instruments is supplemented by empirical analysis and comparisons of their operation in the United Kingdom, Sweden and the United States in the context of debates about the 'limits of politics' and dependence on the institutions of civil society.

First Published in 1995. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

For many, Johannesburg resembles the imagined spectre of the urban future. Global anxieties about catastrophic urban explosion, social fracture, environmental degradation, escalating crime and violence, and rampant consumerism alongside grinding poverty, are projected onto this city as a microcosm of things to come. Decision-makers in cities worldwide have attempted to balance harsh fiscal and administrative realities with growing demands for political, economic and social justice. This book investigates pragmatic approaches to urban economic development, service delivery, spatial restructuring, environmental sustainability and institutional reform in Johannesburg. It explores the conditions and processes that are determining the city's transformation into a cosmopolitan metropole and magnet for the continent.