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Growing better cities

Journal Articles & Books
December, 2005

The United Nations predicts that over the next 25 years nearly all population growth will be in the cities of the developing world. At current rates, 60% of the world’s total population will live in cities by 2030. As the cities grow, so does the number of urban poor. Unemployment, hunger, and malnutrition are commonplace. In the big city, most of any cash income the poor might bring home goes to feeding themselves and staying alive; any food that does not have to be bought is a bonus.

Managing urban land: a guide for municipal practitioners

Training Resources & Tools
November, 2012

Urban land markets have a profound effect on how well poor households are able to access the jobs, amenities and services offered in the city. But often the way in which this market works frustrate attempts to open up better located living and business opportunities for poorer urban households and communities, despite government policies and programmes intended to address these challenges. The challenge in South Africa is even larger because of worsening poverty and inequality, and the continuing growth of cities through urbanisation.

Urban open spaces for adolescent girls: An assessment for Islamabad and Rawalpindi, Pakistan

Reports & Research
December, 2014
Pakistan

Urban open spaces are valued for their health, social, economic, and environmental benefits. Outdoor physical activity is important for the wellbeing of youth, while playfulness is crucial for creativity and innovation. It is observed that in Pakistan the access of adolescent girls to public open spaces and school playgrounds is restricted, but there has been no prior scientific study. This research has studied the impediments in four planned and un-planned localities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi. The restrictions on girls are pervasive and become more severe upon their attaining puberty.

Unlocking Land Values to Finance Urban Infrastructure

May, 2012

Urban growth throughout the developing
world has created a challenge for financing infrastructure.
Investment in infrastructure is needed to provide basic
services for newly developed parts of urban areas. It is
needed to meet the demand for a safer and more reliable
water supply, higher standards for the removal and treatment
of wastewater and solid waste, and the transportation
requirements of a population whose expectations of mobility

Inclusive Cities and Access to Land, Housing, and Services in Developing Countries

April, 2016

Paralleling the increasing disparities
in income and wealth worldwide since the 1980s, cities in
developing countries have witnessed the emergence of a
growing divergence of lifestyles, particularly within the
middle classes, reinforced by the widening gap between the
quality of public and private educational and health care
institutions, spatial segregation, gated communities, and
exclusive semiprivate amenities. This erosion of social

Converting Land into Affordable Housing Floor Space

June, 2014

Cities emerge from the spatial
concentration of people and economic activities. But spatial
concentration is not enough; the economic viability of
cities depends on people, ideas, and goods to move rapidly
across the urban area. This constant movement within dense
cities creates wealth but also various degrees of
unpleasantness and misery that economists call negative
externalities, such as congestion, pollution, and

Land Management

August, 2012

The Wenchuan earthquake affected 20
cities, 158 counties, and 3,655 towns and villages.
Geographic and demographic conditions varied significantly
from small, rural villages to county-level cities, as did
the magnitude of the physical damages. The reconstruction
strategy and plan, inclusive of land management, depended on
the conditions specific to each locale, from in situ
reconstruction for the cities and towns with limited damage

India Land Governance Assessment

June, 2016

As India continues to urbanize and move
towards a less agricultural- and more industry-based
economy, land demands will continue to grow. Its urban
population is expected to increase by more than 200 million
by 2030, requiring 4 to 8 million hectares of land for
residential use alone. Demands for infrastructure and
industry could add a similar amount, summing to total land
demand of 5 to10 percent of the land area currently used for

El Salvador Country Land Assessment

April, 2014

This study assesses the alignment of
land use, land tenure, and land market outcomes in El
Salvador with public policy aspirations in recent decades
for efficient, inclusive, and environmentally sustainable
development in both urban and rural spaces. In doing so the
study indirectly gauges the effectiveness of land sector
institutions in facilitating such developmental outcomes in
agricultural production, urbanization, and forest

Kabul : Urban Land in Crisis

March, 2013

Afghanistan is one of the poorest and
longest suffering countries among members of the World Bank,
and has been ravaged by chronic conflict and political
instability. Afghanistan's infrastructure has been
destroyed or degraded; its human resource base severely
depleted; and its social capital eroded. Despite existing
public administration structures, the majority of state
institutions are only beginning to function effectively, and

From Oil to Cities

June, 2016

The Nigeria Urbanization Review serves the critical and timely purpose of understanding the challenges and opportunities of urbanization in Nigeria. The country’s rapid urban population growth and expansion is examined in relation to the account of its recent urban economic growth in order to seek for ways to finance urban development, particularly the provision of urban public goods and services. The objective of this analytical program is to provide diagnostic tools to inform policy dialogue and investment priorities on urbanization.