The Urban and Local Government Strategy proposes an agenda for working with both national and local governments to develop sustainable cities, which are first and foremost:
- "Livable"--committed to ensuring that the poor achieve a healthful and dignified living standard; that provide systems for adequate housing, secure land tenure, credit, transportation, health care, education, and other services for households; and that address environmental degradation, public safety and cultural heritage preservation for the benefit of all residents. And to be livable, cities must also become:
- "Competitive"--providing a supportive framework for productive firms, to promote buoyant, broad-based growth of employment, incomes and investment.
- "Well governed and managed"--with representation and inclusion of all groups in the urban society; with accountability, integrity, and transparency of government actions in pursuit of shared goals; and with strong capacity of local government to fulfill public responsibilities based on knowledge, skills, resources and procedures that draw on partnerships.
- "Bankable"--that is, financially sound and, at least for some cities, creditworthy. Financial health of municipalities requires the adoption of clear and internally consistent systems of local revenues and expenditures, transparent and predictable intergovernmental transfers, generally accepted financial accounting, asset management, and procurement practices, and prudent conditions for municipal borrowing.
Building Blocks of the Strategy
Four main activities are proposed for new emphasis of the World Bank's urban support:
Formulation of national urban strategies--helping constituents understand and articulate how the urban transition can contribute to national goals of broad-based growth and poverty reduction, and identifying the economic roles and development requirements of different types of cities within the country.
Support to city development strategies--facilitating participatory processes by which the local stakeholders define their vision for their city, analyze its economic prospects, and identify priorities for action and for external assistance to implement the strategy.
Scaling-up programs of services for the poor--including through upgrading of low-income urban neighborhoods based on community-based initiatives that are supported by a wide coalition of public and private sector partners.
Enhanced assistance for capacity-building--supplementing "retail" municipal management operations by supporting intermediary networks, such as municipal associations, as mechanism for "wholesaling" technical assistance, training and sharing of experience; and providing direct advisory services outside of lending operations on a variety of urban management issues.
For more information on Urban Development, please check out the following website. I found it to be very helpful and full of information.
No comments:
Post a Comment