Urbanization And Development

Why is productivity higher in cities? Does urbanization cause growth or does growth cause urbanization? Do countries achieve rapid growth or high incomes without urbanization? How can policy makers reap the benefits of urbanization without paying too high a cost? Does supporting urbanization imply neglecting rural areas? Why do so few governments welcome urbanization? What should governments do to improve housing conditions in cities as they urbanize? Are innovations in housing finance a blessing or a curse for developing countries? How will governments finance the trillions of dollars of infrastructure spending needed for cities in developing countries? First in a series of thematic volumes, this book was prepared for the Commission on Growth and Development to evaluate the state of knowledge of the relationship between urbanization and economic growth. It does not pretend to provide all the answers, but it does identify insights and policy levers to help countries make urbanization work as part of a national growth strategy. It examines a variety of topics: the relevance and policy implications of recent advances in urban economics for developing countries, the role of economic geography in global economic trends and trade patterns, the impacts of urbanization on spatial inequality within countries, and alternative approaches to financing the substantial infrastructure investments required in developing-country cities. Written by prominent academics in their fields, Urbanization and Growth seeks to create a better understanding of the role of urbanization in growth and to inform policy makers tackling the formidable challenges it poses.

This volume presents a significant new collection that focuses on urbanization and its implications for economic development. Written for an advanced audience with an interest in urban economics and cities, the book contains case studies from India, Brazil, Tanzania, Lebanon, and South Africa.

Cities are not only home to around half of the global population but also major centers of economic activity and innovation. Yet, so far there has been no consensus of what a city really is. Substantial differences in the way cities, metropolitan, urban, and rural areas are defined across countries hinder robust international comparisons and an accurate monitoring of SDGs. The report Cities in the World: A New Perspective on Urbanisation addresses this void and provides new insights on urbanisation by applying for the first time two new definitions of human settlements to the entire globe: the Degree of Urbanisation and the Functional Urban Area.

The main goal of this book is to put urbanization and its challenges squarely on Africa’s development agenda. Planned urbanization can improve living conditions for the majority, help in the expansion of the middle class, and create conditions for economic transformation. However, many African cities have developed haphazardly, resulting in the decline of public services, in slum proliferation, and increases in poverty. African cities thrive on activities characterized by easy entry and low productivity, generally referred to as the "informal sector". Indeed, today some urban dwellers are poorer than their cousins in the countryside. In spite of reform attempts, many governments have not been able to create an enabling environment, with adequate infrastructure and institutions to sustain markets for easy exchange and production. This study argues that with careful policies and planning, the situation can be changed. If the recent natural resource-led economic boom that we have seen in many African countries is used for structural reforms and urban renewal, African cities could become centers of economic opportunity. The challenge for African policymakers is to ensure that urban development is orderly and that the process is inclusive and emphasizes the protection of the environment, hence green growth.

Initially published in 1981, this book examines the problems of housing provision for the urban poor in developing countries, within the context of the development process as a whole. The investigation concentrates on the political economy of housing investment and illustrates how programmes and policies are often determined by broader development issues. Commencing with a discussion of urban growth in the Third World, the author then provides a general discussion on housing provision within contemporary development planning in the Third World. Four main types of accommodation âe" government construction, private sector, squatter housing and slum âe" are examined in terms of their contemporary and potential roles in meeting low cost housing needs. Drawing on evidence from a number of Asian countries, the study argues that the real needs of the urban poor are not being met, and that other political and economic objectives, set by the established elites of society, predominate.

The growth and expansion of cities and the transition from a rural to an urban society are among the most critical links between population change and economic development. On the one hand, migration is one of the fundamental demographic processes associated with changes in the population of urban places; the changing distribution of population be

Originally published in 1990, Economic Growth and Urbanization in Developing Areas is a wide-ranging collection of research studies focused on urban economic growth at various levels of urban and national development. The contributions range from studies of peripheral Third World states, such as Fiji and Malaysia, to countries of the so-called semi-periphery, such as Spain, South Africa, and Northern Australia. In addition the authors cover a variety of thematic topics within the framework of urban economic development, from the provision of basic services such as housing and food, to the functional preservation of historic cores, and the impact of economic change on family structure.