The emergence of city-regions in England
offers some useful lessons for the World Bank partners in
developing countries. The city-region approach, as applied
in England touches upon issues of decentralization,
intergovernmental fiscal relations, governance, and the need
to realign outdated administrative arrangements with a
metropolitan area's economic footprint, among other
highly relevant topics for rapidly urbanizing cities in

An efficient and affordable access to
jobs, education and services is considered a fundamental
element for development. However, the mobility conditions in
the cities have deteriorated because of the increasing
motorization and urbanization. The number of new cars that
enter the cities every year outpaces the construction of new
roads, aggravating the existing congestion issues.
Therefore, the urban models that revolve around highways and

Danang City is the capital and economic
hub of the central region of Vietnam. As in all of the major
urban centers of the country, Danang is currently
experiencing rapid urbanization fueled by consistent
economic growth and the resultant steady increase in
population, much through rural-urban migration. For this
reason, central and city government has been increasingly
concerned with the urban development and housing sectors.

Mega urban regions are not a passing
phenomenon. They are likely to persist and to enlarge their
economic footprints because they benefit from the advantages
of market scale, agglomeration economies, location, and the
increasing concentration of talented workers. Metropolitan
regions which are polycentric, relatively well managed, and
have invested heavily in transport infrastructure are able
to contain some of the problems attendant upon a

In 1986 the World Bank prepared a
strategy for low-income housing in developing countries.
This work grew out of the Bank's efforts to support the
urban poor through an extensive housing assistance program
that was launched by Bank President McNamara's speech
on urban poverty. By that time, the Bank had provided more
than $4 billion of such assistance, and had undertaken an
extensive research effort to design support for that

Bangladesh represents a success story
among developing countries. Poverty incidence, which was as
high as 57 percent at the beginning of the 1990s, had
declined to 49 percent in 2000. This trend accelerated
subsequently, reducing the poverty headcount rate to 40
percent in 2005. The primary contributing factor was robust
and stable economic growth along with no worsening of
inequality. Respectable GDP growth that started at the

The rural roads program, overseen by
Provias Descentralizado (subdivision of Peru's Ministry
of Transportation and Communications), began in 1995, and
has received funds from the Peruvian Government, the World
Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank. It is a
national program for the rehabilitation and maintenance of
roads that link rural communities and villages with
secondary and principal roads, and through these, with towns

This paper assesses the state of
research and examines priorities for future work in the area
of urbanization and growth. This is done by reviewing and
summarizing the findings of five scoping papers covering the
following topics: urban poverty, the political economy of
urban poverty, urban real estate and housing, urban
infrastructure finance, and external assistance for urban development.

Balochistan offers some of the best
assets for development. Balochistan is generously bestowed
with natural and locational resources. It possesses the
largest land area of any province of Pakistan, proving vast
rangeland for goats, sheep, buffaloes, cattle, camels and
other livestock. Its southern border makes up about two
thirds of the national coastline, giving access to a large
pool of fishery resources. As a frontier province, it is

This paper shows that support from the
family continues to be an important source of support for
the rural elderly, particularly the rural elderly over 70
years of age. Decline in likelihood of co-residence with, or
in close proximity to, adult children raises the possibility
that China's rural elderly will receive less support in
the forms of both income and in-kind instrumental care.
Although descriptive evidence on net financial transfers

The Philippines by virtue of its geographic circumstances is highly prone to natural disasters, such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, tropical cyclones and floods, making it one of the most disaster prone countries in the world. This report seeks to document the impacts of natural disasters on the social and economic development of the Philippines; assess the country's current capacity to reduce and manage disaster risk; and identify options for more effective management of that risk.

The objective of this report is to
analyze the important roles of labor markets, employment,
productivity, and labor income in facilitating shared growth
and promoting poverty reduction in Bangladesh. First, the
report provides a background discussion of poverty, reform,
and growth in Bangladesh. Following that, it gives an
overview of the labor market, describing the country's
demographics, the institutional structure of the labor