Written evidence submitted by the Department
for International Development (DFID)
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
(i) Provided in this Memorandum from DFID are
(a) views on the nature and extent of urbanisation and its impact
on the poor, (b) answers to specific questions posed by the IDC,
including giving information on relevant existing and past DFID
programmes, (c) a number of short Annexes, including one each
on our work with the World Bank, Cities Alliance, and UN Habitat,
and (d) initial reflections on future challenges and opportunities.
(ii) Just over half the world's population now
lives in urban environments, and the trend is set to continue,
with 61% expected by 2030. One sixth of the world now lives in
urban slums, with a total population of around one billion people.
(iii) DFID has strategic engagements and provides
core finance to some programmes with the World Bank, Cities Alliance
and UN Habitat. Bilateral country programme support is concentrated
in South Asia (mostly in India), with some £300 million
programmed.
1. URBANISATION
AND POVERTY—OVERVIEW
1.1. Demographic and urbanisation trends
1.1.1 The UN predicts[17]
a continued increase in global population, from 6.8 billion
this year to about 9.1 billion by 2050, with almost all the
growth taking place in urban areas. This assumes a continued decline
in average global fertility levels. If these remain at or near
present levels, together with increased longevity, world population
may exceed 10.5 billion by 2050. About 95% of the predicted
increase will take place in developing countries, concentrated
in the most populous countries (Box 1).
1.1.2 The world's urban population is expected
to increase from about 3.3 billion today to over six billion
by 2050. By 2030, human living will be mostly urbanised with around
61% of us living in towns and cities, compared to less than 15%
in 1900. There are many challenges posed by rapid urbanisation,
especially the potential growth of slums, with one-sixth of the
world today living in urban slums. These include potential internal
conflict, crime and extremism where large numbers of the young,
unemployed and poor are concentrated. The trends in some of the
poorest countries are particularly striking, such as in Uganda,
whose population is set to rise from 25.8 million in 2003 to
125 million by 2050, with an annual urban rise of 5.7%. Similar
trends are seen in Afghanistan, Pakistan (eg doubling from 126 million
between 1994 and 2022), Niger, Nigeria and Egypt.[18]
1.1.3 Africa's population is increasing
three times faster than the world average, with the number of
poorest people at 310 million still increasing, mostly in
rural areas. By 2030, 700 million of Africa's population
will be in cities and towns, some 72% of these in slum conditions.[19]
Kinshasa and Lagos for example, will expand greatly, each expecting
to have populations in excess of 16 million by 2025 (Box
3).
1.1.4 Cities with populations in excess
of 10 million, sometimes known as mega-cities, will be more
common by 2025. These include Tokyo—36 million and
Delhi, Mexico City, New York, Mumbai, Sao Paulo—in excess
of 20 million each and Shanghai—19 million. In
1900 the population of the world's 100 largest cities
averaged 700,000; in 1950 it was 2.0 million; now this
exceeds 6.0 million.
Box 1
KEY FACTS AND FIGURES[20]
1.2 Urban economic growth
1.2.1 The process of urbanisation can have
a positive impact on the reduction of poverty. Urbanised countries
tend to have higher incomes, more stable economies and institutions
and are better able to withstand external economic shocks and
volatility. This is reflected in globally economic performance,
with a close correlation between national income and urbanisation.
Low income countries tend to have the lowest proportion of their
population in urban areas and high income countries the highest.
1.2.2 Cities generate most of a country's
GDP and provide extensive opportunities for employment and investment.
Urban centres thrive on trade. Market towns trade crops. Towns
and secondary cities produce and trade in manufactured goods.
Large cities design, make and sell goods and services, employing
large numbers of people.
1.2.3 History tells us that access to markets
and the ability to move goods relatively cheaply is key to trade
and growth (World Development Report 2009).[21]
Falling transport costs in Europe have lead over the past 25 years
to an increased trade in specialised intermediate parts which
are sent elsewhere for assembly into finished products. There
are examples in China of the large scale production of electronic
components such as keyboards and magnetic recording heads underpinning
urban development and growth.
1.2.4 At the same time, inequalities between
the rich and poor in urban areas have increased, as have the sizes
and proportions of slum populations. The gap in wealth between
the urban rich and poor tends to reduce when average per capita
incomes rise above about US$5,000. Nonetheless in many large cities
of developing countries poverty is becoming severe, pervasive
and entrenched, receiving inadequate attention by municipalities
or central governments. Slum prevalence may be greater in small
cities and towns due to a lack of urban planning and infrastructure.
Achievement of the MDGs, especially in sub-Saharan Africa, will
depend partly on reducing the number of people living in slum
conditions.
1.3 Urban-Rural Relations
1.3.1 While urbanisation is often associated
with large cities, urban residents in most countries live in small
and medium sized towns, which play a crucial part in national
and regional economies. They provide for rural producers access
to markets and services, as well as an experience of urban life.
Small and medium sized towns will likely remain the primary destination
for rural migrants, outpacing the growth rates of large cities.
1.3.2 Policymakers and researchers often
have conventional notions of rural and urban, seeing two economies,
two societies and two geographical locations. The reality is different.
While the extremes of remote rural areas and mega-city slums exist,
economic, political, and social changes have altered the nature
of urban and rural areas—as well as the interactions between
them. Increased flows of people, goods, services, information,
money, energy, waste and pollution are blurring the distinction
between rural and urban conditions. Greater access to information
technology, better roads and improved education has, among other
factors, strengthened rural-urban links.
1.3.3 There are complex links between urban
and rural areas, including political, administrative, economic
and social factors. In developed countries, many urban-rural distinctions
have been discarded, recognising the dependencies between them.
Small and medium-sized towns bring innovation, technologies, services
and other urban functions to rural communities. In their turn,
rural areas will be a source of food, fuel, water and raw materials,
as well as providing space for recreation. These realities determine
the need for integrated planning and governance arrangements.
1.3.4 There is no clear-cut definition of
urban and rural but a continuum from the "very rural"
to the "very urban"—from remote farms to villages
and small towns, to intermediate and large cities, to mega-cities
and their relentlessly growing peripheries. Rural households are
increasingly connected to urban markets both for earning and spending
their incomes.
1.4 Urban Migration
1.4.1 While the remit of this inquiry excludes
the dynamics of rural to urban migration, the Select Committee
Announcement notes that "many of the people moving to towns
and cities become slum dwellers". The pressures on the public
provision of basic services and infrastructure are aggravated
by migration into big urban areas. Migration into urban areas
is likely to increase in future—perhaps with the added impacts
of climate change, compounding the growth due to demographic change
of mega-cities.
1.4.2 The main cause of migration from rural
to urban areas is the prospect of better employment or earning
opportunities in urban areas, combined with hardship or the lack
of prospects in home villages. Migrants can make a significant
contribution to urban labour markets, with their remittances sustaining
families left behind.
1.4.3 In some countries migration may be
stimulated by conflict, or the fear of conflict, taking people
out of previously stable rural communities. As noted in the IDC
report on Migration and Development (Session 2003-04), the line
between voluntary and forced migration and economic and non-economic
migrants is frequently blurred. For example, in the late 1990s
Khartoum accommodated some three million internally displaced
people fleeing from conflict in southern Sudan.
1.4.4 Ethiopia for example is concerned
about rural food security and, for mainly political reasons, discourages
movement into urban centres by providing no social security for
migrants. In such situations, urban policy becomes part of a wider
social and economic strategy. There may be legal restraints on
non-government organizations working for the rights of the urban
poor. Under these circumstances in Africa and to a lesser extent
in India, rural-urban migrants tend to become less visible, both
to international donors and to national governments.
1.4.5 Poor internal migrants, who come to
urban areas for a complex mix of reasons, may be especially vulnerable,
made more so by discrimination or a lack of social protection
mechanisms. Internal migration will be driven by local factors,
with causes and effects specific to the particular country or
region. A 2005 survey by the UN Population Division indicated
that more than half the countries surveyed wanted to reduce internal
migration to limit urban population growth.
1.4.6 Some countries with the capacity to
do so take action to address urban over-concentration. For example,
Saudi Arabia is investing in new cities to ease the growth of
Jeddah and Riyadh, while Egypt is building new cities to ease
the pressure on Cairo. In the 1950s and 1960s, Britain and France
built new towns to counter-balance their capitals' dominance.
In low income countries, decentralised towns evolve from trading
opportunities, much of which will depend on the existence and
condition of national infrastructure.
1.5 Urban Poverty
1.5.1 Nearly all the growth in the world's
urban population over the next 20 years will occur in developing
countries. By 2030 up to four billion people will be living
in the towns and cities of developing countries. Some of these
cities will be characterised by poverty and inequality, with urban
growth synonymous with the expansion and worsening of slum conditions.
1.5.2 Poverty in developing countries is
increasingly characterised by people living in slums, without
access to services or the resources to achieve a minimum standard
of living. The urban poor live in monetised economies, often facing
unaffordable costs for adequate housing, transport, education,
healthcare and basic household services. They are particularly
vulnerable to external recession or shocks.
1.5.3 The 2008 food price crisis sharpened
worries about how to feed slum dwellers. In November 2008 the
UN's Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, warned the biennial World
Urban Forum meeting in Nanjing (WUF IV) that two billion could
be living in slums in the year 2030 and that "urban
areas consume most of the world's energy and are generating the
bulk of our waste." Especially in Africa, the capacity to
manage cities and urban development is weak, occasionally manifest
in an urban disaster, such as a collapsed building or large fire.
1.5.4 As reported in the IDC inquiry on
water and sanitation,[22]
densely populated slum areas are difficult to serve due to lack
of tenure and low political prioritisation. When investments in
urban services and environmental improvements are linked to the
upgrading of city-wide infrastructure, they can successfully reach
the poor. Often community based planning together with institutional
and financial reforms will be required, as we have seen in India.
1.6. The Growth of Slums
1.6.1. According to UN Habitat[23]
one out of three of the world's urban population lives in a slum,
amounting to about 1 billion people, of which 560 million
have no access to basic toilet facilities. UN Habitat expects
numbers of slum dwellers to reach 1.8 billion by 2030, putting
enormous strain on the provision of basic services. A definition
of slum conditions is offered in Box 2.
Box 2
SLUM DEFINITION
1.6.2 The measurement of the incidence of
slums is complicated by the definition. At present, a slum household
is defined as such if it has one or more of four basic shelter
deprivations. This means for example that a house with three shelter
deprivations gaining access to improved water will still be classified
as a slum, despite an important improvement in living conditions.
It will still have two shelter deprivations and the improvement
will not be noted in the statistics for monitoring progress.
1.6.3 A lack of property rights increases
insecurity, as shown by some 6.7 million facing eviction
in the two years between 2000 and 2002. An approximate 2005 regional
breakdown for urban slums is;
| — Asia | 554 million
|
| — Sub-Saharan Africa | 231 million
|
| — Latin America and Caribbean |
117 million |
1.6.3 In India where there is rapid, often unplanned
urbanisation, some social groups tend to be concentrated in the
poorest areas without access to state social services. Women from
some groups have difficulty gaining access to emergency obstetric
care and two years ago a disproportionately high number of low-caste
children in Delhi were out of school. Urbanisation does not necessarily
lead to social transformation. The depth and prevalence of urban
poverty varies in different cities across India, much depending
on links to global markets.
1.7 Urbanisation and Poverty
1.7.1 Millennium Development Goal 7 Target 11 aims
"By 2020, to have achieved a significant improvement in the
lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers". Target
11 is one of the least known and least understood of the
MDG targets. It is rarely prioritised and often overlooked in
national government planning and donor programmes, despite rising
urban poverty and that the target is unlikely to be met.
1.7.2 The achievement of Target 11 is a challenge
to national governments and the international community. Some
countries are making progress in reducing the numbers of slum
dwellers. According to UN-HABITAT, between 1990 and 2001 Thailand
reduced the number of slum dwellers from nearly two million to
less than 250,000. South Africa, Brazil and Mexico should see
the number of slum dwellers decline over the next decade. In many
more countries, the trends are different, including in nearly
all of DFID's PSA countries, 24 of which account for 60%
of the world's slum dwellers.
1.7.3 Target 11 is the only MDG target with a spatial
dimension; being focused on urban poverty, demonstrating a shift
in the location of poverty from rural to urban areas. The rise
in the number of slum dwellers is the most visible manifestation
of the urbanisation of poverty. On current patterns and trends
the global number of slum dwellers may double to two billion by
2030.
1.7.4 The presence of slums is evidence of a failure
to manage urban growth, highlighting differences and inequalities
between countries and regions and within cities. Slum dwellers
are excluded from many of the attributes normally associated with
full citizenship. These include secure and adequate housing, public
transport, adequate income, access to credit, education, health
services, basic water and sanitation, safety and the rule of law
and political voice.[24]
1.7.5 The unit of analysis for Target 11 is the
slum population at household level.[25]
The terms "slum" and "urban poverty" are not
synonymous. While the majority of slum residents are poor, not
all the urban poor live in slums.
There were originally two indicators to monitor Target 11:
— Indicator 30—proportion of people with access
to improved sanitation;
— Indicator 31—proportion of people with access
to secure tenure.
With a rewording of Target 10 to now include access
to basic sanitation and to safe drinking water, Indicator 30 was
moved from Target 11, with secure tenure now the headline indicator.
Note should be made that secure tenure is not just a slum issue;
other non-slum households lack secure tenure.
KEY IDC QUESTIONS
2. How are the urban poverty challenges being addressed
by developing country governments and donors, including DFID?
2.1 A wide range of investments from donors and country
governments can potentially improve the lives of poor people in
urban locations. These include changes and improvements in governance,
environment, poverty indices, land use, basic infrastructure and
services, housing, and improving urban-rural linkages.
2.2 The response to Climate change is resulting in more
money being allocated to the urban sector, and the fallout from
the global economic downturn is partially being countered by stimulus
packages that tend to focus on more intensive investment in urban
areas. Annex A, provides a brief summary of relevant activities
being undertaken by the Asian Development Bank (AsDB), the African
Development Bank (AfDB), the United Nations Development Programme
(UNDP) and a range of selected bi-lateral donors. Box 3 below
illustrates some key issues for Lagos in Nigeria.
Box 3
MEGACITY DEVELOPMENT—LAGOS
2.3 The World Bank is soon to submit a new Urban Strategy
to the Board. This gives greater prominence to governance at the
local level, recognising that strengthening cities and towns to
manage themselves, rather than as recipients of centrally-driven
projects, is a more sustainable way forward. The strategy also
acknowledges a widening gap between the growing demand for assistance
and the World Bank's ability and resources available to respond.
2.4 Annex B provides a short summary note submitted by
the World Bank, which details these key challenges, reflects upon
previous positive co-working with DFID, and offers suggestions
for future focus and potential work programmes.
2.5 A complementary submission by the Cities Alliance,
of which DFID is a founding sponsor, is attached as Annex C. This
outlines the Medium-term Strategy (2008-10) which emphasises a
longer-term, programmatic approach to its work, building on Paris
Principles emphasising harmonisation between donor approaches,
and building country systems. Cities Alliance focuses on (a) assisting
city and national governments to undertake city-wide or nationwide
slum upgrading programmes, and (b) supporting city development
strategies.
2.6 Mandated by UN Resolution 56/206, UN-Habitat is the
UN agency for human settlements, to promote socially and environmentally
sustainable towns and cities, with the goal of providing adequate
shelter for all. UN-Habitat's work is related to MDG Goal 7, Targets
10 and 11 which respectively concern access to water
and sanitation and improving the lives of slum dwellers. DFID
has been a sponsor since 1997. Annex D provides summary details.
2.7 The UK Government is engaged in a range of activities
addressing the challenges and opportunities of urbanisation and
poverty with the largest emerging economies (Brazil, Russia, India,
China—"BRICs"). As a result of historical association
and language, links are particularly well developed with India,
with a growing focus on the relationship with China. A summary
of activities and initiatives is provided as Annex E.
What others are doing in India
2.8 In December 2005 Government of India (GoI) launched
the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) to
help meet the development needs of the 63 largest cities.
The budget for JNNURM is £6 billion over seven years
which is effectively doubled through city contributions. For small
and medium towns there is a parallel initiative, Urban Infrastructure
Development Scheme for Small and Medium Towns (UIDSSMT), which
is also gathering momentum.
2.9 World Bank, Asian Development Bank (AsDB) and UNDP
are key development partners with GoI and DFID in the sector.
UN Habitat, GTZ and JIBC are also active. AsDB and UNDP have small
Technical Assistance (TA) projects in place to support the implementation
of JNNURM. World Bank is developing a $40 million TA loan
to MoUD and a $20 million TA loan to MoHUPA for building
capacities for implementation at national state and city level.
What DFID is doing in India
2.10 Most of DFID's slum upgrading and urban development
work is in South Asia, the largest programmes being in India,
where 15% of the urban population live in slums (54% are in slums
in Mumbai) and there is potential for a large increase in slum
dwellers if cities are not well planned and managed. About 26%
of the urban population are vulnerable due to insecure tenure,
inadequate water and sanitation services and poor access to social
services.
2.11 Working with Indian Authorities for the last two
decades, DFID India has helped develop a significant body of knowledge
on the various ways in which cities and towns can be managed for
the betterment of poor people. Box 4 below provides some
key facts concerning the challenges of urbanisation in India.
Box 4
INDIA: KEY URBANISATION FACTS AND COUNTRY CONTEXT
2.12 DFID has around 20 years of involvement in
the urban sector in India. Over this period our programmes have
evolved from a concentration on infrastructure and community schemes
to a focus on urban reforms. We have ongoing urban programmes
in Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal. A programme to support urban
reform in Bihar is under design and a large programme which covered
42 towns in Andhra Pradesh has recently completed. DFID is
also implementing a programme of policy support for the implementation
of JNNURM at the national level and will launch a new five-year
£14.6 million programme in 2009 to sustain this
effort. DFID is the largest bilateral donor in the urban sector
in India and our current and planned programmes have a total value
of £236 million. (Annex F describes DFID's India urban
programmes in more detail).
2.13 In Bangladesh the UK is providing £60 million
over six years through the United Nations Development Programme
to support slum improvements in 34 towns and cities, with
benefits reaching some three million people.
3. DFID's contribution to meeting Target 11 in MDG
7 which seeks to improve the lives of slum dwellers.
3.1 DFID has initiated a number of global programmes
designed to improve the lives of slum dwellers. The Community
Led Infrastructure Finance Facility (CLIFF) is an international
partnership which provides finance to organisations of the urban
poor for housing and related demonstration projects. DFID's initial
£6.8 million investment has shown considerable success
(particularly in India), securing tenure and providing decent
homes for over 5,400 families and access to sanitation for
over 800,000 slum dwellers. CLIFF is projected to leverage
£33 million from a combination of the private and public
sources. CLIFF currently operates in three countries, India, Kenya
and the Philippines. We are planning with partners to build on
this, not only in Asia but, increasingly, in Sub-Saharan Africa.
3.2 DFID has contributed about £5.9 million
to the Slum Upgrading Facility, which is managed by UN Habitat.
This works with local governments and financial institutions,
slum dwellers and groups to mobilise investments for slum upgrading
and relocation. There are projects in urban settlements in Ghana,
Kenya, Sri Lanka and Tanzania.
3.3 In India, DFID projects and programmes are benefiting
2.9 million slum dwellers through improved water, sanitation
and other basic services (900,000 in Andhra Pradesh, 1,000,000 in
West Bengal, 500,000 in Madhya Pradesh and 500,000 in
Bihar). Indirect benefits will improve the lives of millions more
slum dwellers through JNNURM reforms and improvements in urban
governance.
3.4 The Water and Sanitation Programme for the Urban
Poor (WSUP) supports local services providers to deliver affordable
and sustainable water and sanitation services to urban poor people.
The approach is to work with local service providers to build
their long term capacity to serve the poor, with the involvement
of the community. WSUP aims to reach 3.5 million people by
2015. In achieving this WSUP aims to establish a model for sector
scale-up and replication to help deliver broader Millennium Development
Goal (MDG) targets. DFID's funding allocation is £3.95 million
between October 2005 and April 2009. Projects are being implemented
in Kenya, Madagascar, India, Mozambique, Zambia, and Bangladesh,
with work planned in Brazil, Ghana and Mali.
4. The provision of basic services and infrastructure including
energy, housing, transport, sanitation, water, health and education
in slums.
4.1 In urban slums, there is often a failure to translate
poor people's demands into policy action, as was noted in 2006 in
our IDC response on water and sanitation. This applies across
the full range of infrastructure and social services and is reflected
in national investment planning, poverty reduction and other national
strategies, and budgets.
4.2 In many countries capacity limitations mean that
urban development ministries and municipalities do not always
spend the funds allocated to them. There is a need to link reforms
of water and electricity utilities and capacity building to new
investments to ensure that the urban poor benefit from upgraded
services. A widespread weakness is insufficient provision for
operations and maintenance of existing systems, leading to service
breakdowns.
4.3 Densely populated slum areas present particular challenges
for service providers due to lack of tenure and low political
prioritisation. Urban services and environmental improvements
can successfully reach the poor when investments are linked both
to upgraded city-wide infrastructure but also to institutional
and financial reforms and community based planning, as the evolution
of DFID's Indian urban programmes have shown over the past 15 or
so years.[26]
4.4 Local governments will be pushed by the strong middle
classes not to invest in services for poor or slum areas. Municipalities
often view the poor and their settlements as a problem, even as
the city economy depends on them. The policy environment is crucial
to the provision of infrastructure and services to the poor. Organised
urban poor groups and institutional arrangements can hold local
authorities to account in order to address the issues, including
the provision of basic infrastructure services such as clean water,
sanitation, electricity and safe access roads.[27]
5. Supporting opportunities for employment and livelihoods
for the urban poor.
5.1 In 2002, a series of papers sponsored by DFID were
published in a compendium entitled Urban Livelihoods: A People-Centred
Approach to Reducing Poverty.[28]
Topics addressed in the book include conceptual and definitional
issues, the concept of a household livelihood strategy, the then
current understanding of the situation of poor urban people and
their households, an analysis of policy implications. A series
of chapters address aspects of the physical environment, whilst
reflecting on the economic, social and political relationships
that are critical to living conditions. Concluding chapters address
implications for support project and programme design. The most
important hypothesis advanced concerns the inappropriateness of
considering "urban" areas in isolation, and attention
is drawn to the need to consider rural-urban relationships and
links.
5.2 Issues of broader definition of the nature of poverty
and the interaction of the citizen with the state were also addressed
in Removing Unfreedoms: Citizens as Agents of Change in Urban
Development[29]—the
record of a DFID-supported colloquium at the London School of
Economics attended by Professor Amartya Sen and Lord Meghnad Desai.
5.3 Subsequently, DFID co-sponsored with other agencies,
a further series of papers on Rural-Urban Linkages.[30]
For rural producers, urban-based markets are important as they
concentrate demand, and act as links to regional and international
markets. At the same time, incomes from farming have decreased
in many regions, especially for small-scale producers who increasingly
engage in non-farm activities in rural settlements and local small
towns.
5.4 Occupational diversification within households is
closely linked with the increase of mobility and migration. This
involves traditional migrant groups, such as young men, but also
new groups such as young unmarried women.
5.5 With the implementation of decentralisation programmes
in many nations, small and intermediate urban centres are attracting
interest for their role in the provision of services and goods
to their surrounding rural regions, and as potential engines of
economic growth. New challenges to urban spatial planning are
presented by the growth of "peri-urban" areas that combine
"urban" and "rural" characteristics.
6 Property rights in improving the lives of slum dwellers.
6.1 Secure tenure is the legal right of individuals and
groups to effective protection from forced evictions, measured
by two components;
— evidence of documentation which can be used as proof
of secure tenure status and,
— either de facto or perceived protection from
forced evictions.
In the absence of internationally comparable data on secure tenure,
the "proxy" indicator tends to be global reporting of
Target 11 in the number of slum households.
6.2 Without property rights, municipalities are reluctant
to provide infrastructure services to slum households, especially
where these are unplanned settlements on public land. The provision
of services such as water or electricity connections may turn
temporary settlements into permanent arrangements or imply a property
right where none exists. Security of tenure is the key to obtaining
public infrastructure services.
6.3 In Punjab in Pakistan, DFID is considering support
to a pilot programme in one District to strengthen land tenancy
rights for the poor. This will be part of the planned Punjab Economic
Opportunities Programme (previously entitled the Poor Districts
Programme), which envisages scale-up to eight urban areas. A total
of £4.4 million in international Technical Assistance
is being sought from donors. The attached Box 5 illustrates
some key achievements in Pakistan's third-largest city, Faisalabad
(Punjab)
Box 5
FAISALABAD DEVOLUTION PROJECT
GIS systems & mapping
6.4 The introduction of GIS mapping in Pakistan's third
largest city, Faisalabad, has improved the targeting of poor areas
and enhanced the investment planning process. All existing information
systems (Human Resource, Revenue, Financial Management and Citizen
Community Boards Management Information Systems) have been linked
with the GIS. Information is now instantaneously available for
planning, budgeting and decision making purposes, for example,
in a village complete information about a school eg physical condition
of the school, staff of the school and financial allocations to
the school can be retrieved, this has enabled a more integrated
planning process across the district.
6.5 GIS mapping has also, for the very first time, brought
together the land record which was maintained on "latha"
(maps on cloth) and has implications for ownership, revenue generation
(commercial properties etc). It also provides information and
establishes the base which can be used for land and property rights
cases. It also neutralises the control that land registry clerks
"Patwaris" (allegedly in collusion with influential
people) had on making available the record.
6.6 The provincial government has regularised this as
a requirement in Land Use Rules as of March 2008 and all
Districts are required to prepare peri-urban structure plans using
satellite imagery as a base map. The provincial government has
also provisionally approved £15 million to fund and
replicated the interventions using Faisalabad as the knowledge
resource district beyond the end of the project and help replicate
interventions across nine districts in Punjab.
7. The implications of the current global financial downturn
for urbanisation in developing countries
7.1 The effects on the urban poor of the global recession
vary in different countries. While data is still sketchy and rather
anecdotal, reports from Vietnam and China indicate large scale
job losses, with hardship from higher food prices in Nigeria,
Ethiopia, Uganda and DR of Congo. From Vietnam there are reports
that the demand for casual day labour has fallen sharply, while
in Cambodia overtime pay is down, with workers leaving garment
factories because wages do not meet basic needs. Reports from
DRC suggest some families in Kinshasa are returning to "delestage"—where
half the family eats one day and the other half the next.
7.2 In India, the effects of the global recession on
urban poverty are not yet clear. Some African countries (Uganda,
Malawi, Ghana, Tanzania and Kenya) have seen little impact so
far on employment, although significant numbers of miners in Zambia
and DRC have lost their jobs.
7.3 The urban poor, often migrants, have little defence
against economic shocks such as job losses. They have no savings
or access to state safety nets or basic social services. Few have
any fixed assets with many in temporary accommodation. For example
in Indonesia, while there are social protection schemes in rural
areas, this is not the case in urban areas, which are expected
to be hardest hit by the downturn. In China migrant labourers
may be excluded from critical social protection programmes and
from access to public services, in both labour-receiving cities
and labour-exporting rural areas.
7.4 Job losses and falling international and/or rural-urban
remittances are reported by several country offices. In China
job losses have been concentrated in low-skilled and export driven
sectors (urban construction jobs electronics manufacturing) and
throughout 2008 rural incomes declined as the "lifeblood
" of remittances was reduced by factory closures. In Indonesia
over 200,000 mainly daily or outsourced workers have been
laid off.[31] In the
Caribbean unemployment approaching 30% is combined with falling
remittances, including countries where remittances are a high
share of GDP.[32] In
Vietnam there may be 400,000 job losses in 2009 with
remittances falling from $7 to $4 billion.
7.5 There are reports in East Asia of migrant urban workers
returning to rural areas without land to farm, other available
jobs or any reliable income. Migrants forced back from abroad
may find there is insufficient employment to absorb them. This
raises concerns about a sliding back into poverty. Annex G provides
a summary of reports from DFID's country offices on the impacts
of the global financial crisis.
8. FUTURE CHALLENGES
AND RESPONSES
Dealing with inequality
8.1 The 2009 World Development Report points out
that production concentrates in big cities, leading provinces
and in wealthy nations. Half the world's economic production fits
onto 1.5% of its land area. Cairo produces half of Egypt's GDP
using just 0.5% of its area.
8.2 Fewer than a billion people (in North America, the
European Union and Japan) account for three-quarters of the world's
wealth.
8.3 However, in emerging global economies, such as Brazil,
India and China, there are significant disparities between economically
successful and unsuccessful states and provinces. More than two-thirds
of the developing world's poor live in villages. A billion people
living in Sub-Saharan Africa, South and central Asia, survive
on less than 2% of the world's wealth.
8.4 But, dispersing production more broadly does not
necessarily lead to prosperity. This tends to be achieved by the
simultaneous facilitation of industrial concentration, and social
convergence policies that improve living standards (health, education,
sanitation etc) more widely across different geographies.
8.5 These policies will need to ensure economic integration.
The right mix at the right time is required between the provision
of basic services and access to them, and wider road, rail and
telecommunication links that can connect people to markets.
Global movements—the growth of towns and cities
8.6 Three simultaneous global movements are occurring
that have a significant bearing on the future growth and development
of cities and urban populations: urbanisation, decentralisation
and the rise of domestic capital markets. In 2004, 40% of the
world's cement and 27% of its steel primarily went to build China's
cities.[33]
8.7 In absolute numbers, Asia will experience the largest
rise in urban population numbers. For example, China will add
at least 300 million and Indonesia 80 million people
to their cities by 2030.[34]
An estimated 46 million people living in cities are at risk
of annual flooding from storm surges in the East Asia region.[35]
8.8 Within cities, varying depths of inequality exist.
Sound land or property title not only encourages municipalities
to invest in basic water, sanitation and other services, it also
stimulates individual household investment in bettering personal
property. For women, who may not own land, then sound property
rights raise the potential for rental income. For the poor, the
costs of crime-related conflict may be disproportionately high.
Frequently, so too are the costs of transport to their place of
work.
Climate Change & the need for Climate Resilient Cities
8.9 It is probable that the responsibility to responding
to climate change impacts will fall to city governments and communities.
This will require strong local commitment and organisation to
deal with behaviour and technological change to reduce carbon
& greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. In addition, in order to
prevent and better manage related environmental disaster events,
urban growth and spatial development will require the consideration
of disaster risk reduction and management as an integral part
of the planning process. A Primer has been prepared jointly by
The World Bank, the Global facility for Disaster Reduction and
recovery, and the UN International Strategy for Disaster reduction.[36]
8.10 The Primer uses a dual track approach. One track
seeks to lower GHG emissions through mitigation (Climate
change management) programmes of energy efficiency, the use of
non-fossil fuels, controlling urban sprawl, improved public transport
and recycling waste and water reclamation. The other track addresses,
through adaptation programmes, the consequences of climate
change and the increased frequency and intensity of extreme events
and disasters that climate change is creating.
4th HMG White Paper on International Development
8.11 As part of developing the 4th HMG White Paper on
International Development, DFID is presently considering options
to make an effective and enhanced contribution to the challenges
and opportunity of urbanisation.
8.12 These options include strengthening partnership
and resource allocation to key institutions, including UN Habitat,
the World Bank and Cities Alliance. The newly strengthened core
research capability could be deployed to deepen understanding
and improve targeting of interventions. Greater interaction with
other Whitehall government partners is possible. Key country programmes
could intensify engagement in urban and urban-rural link challenges.
The growing appetite for North-South and South-South city-linkages,
twinning arrangements and knowledge sharing are also areas for
consideration. And new partnerships with foundations and a wider
range of donors, institutions and civil society actors are possible.
17
http://www.un.org/esa/population/publications/wpp2008/pressrelease.pdf Back
18
DFID Horizon-scanning Unit 2008. Back
19
Commission for Africa 2005-Slums are defined as lacking security
of tenure, durable housing, adequate living space, access to safe
water and sanitation. Back
20
UN Habitat. Back
21
Available at http://www.worldbank.org/wdr2009 Back
22
Memorandum October 2006 paragraph 56. Back
23
State of the World's Cities 2008-09, UN Habitat. Back
24
United Nations Millennium Project (2005). Back
25
A slum is a contiguous settlement where the inhabitants are characterized
as having inadequate housing and basic services. A slum is often
not recognised and addressed by the public authorities as an integral
or equal part of the city. UN-HABITAT (2003). Back
26
Para 56 DFID IDC Memorandum on Scaling up Water and Sanitation
Services. Oct 2006. Back
27
IIED, Environment and Urbanisation, April 2009, Volume 21-The
Role of Mayors in Good City Governance-David Satterthwaite. Back
28
Ed. C. Rakodi with T. Lloyd-Jones, Earthscan, 306pp. Back
29
ed J Samuels, 2004. Back
30
ed C Tacoli, Earthscan, 2006, 329pp. Back
31
In the textiles and garments, shoes, automotive industries, construction,
palm oil and paper & pulp industries. Back
32
Tourism, construction and manufacturing are the main sectors affected
by unemployment Back
33
Cities Alliance 2006, p24, Guide to City Development Strategies:
Improving Urban Performance (Washington DC). Back
34
(ibid: p11). Back
35
World Bank, 2007, p2, East Asia Environmental Monitor: Adapting
to Climate Change, (Washington DC). Back
36
2008, Climate Resistant Cities, Reducing Vulnerabilities to Climate
Change Impacts and Strengthening Disaster Risk Management in East
Asian Cities, 150pp. Back
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