North Africa's coastal cities, long
benefitting from their ready access to commerce and culture,
also face distinct vulnerabilities due to their location.
Natural hazards and extreme weather patterns impose risks on
coastal areas that inland areas seldom encounter. North
Africa's increasingly populous cities face tangible
risks today, but these will be amplified as the impacts of
global climate change further manifest themselves over the

This report presents the problem,
describes the analytical framework, the African and World
context and the characteristics that need to be present for
a responsible and effective urbanization. Chapter one
discusses the issues involved in measuring urban growth and
density and the problem of under-measuring density. Chapter
two introduces key aspects of the recent urbanization in
Tanzania, including migration, structure of economy and

The Colombo Municipal Council (CMC), in
collaboration with the World Bank, UNDP, UNCHS (HABITAT) and
the Western Provincial Council (WPC) in Sri Lanka, launched
a project in February 2000 to formulate a comprehensive
strategy framework and a perspective plan of action for
development of the city. The purpose was to identify key
areas and issues that need systemic and planned attention of
the Council and other major stakeholders and to develop

This report highlights the discussion,
processes, lessons learned in examining innovative options
for participation by all stakeholders in seeking new social
and economic contracts between civil society and urban
governments. The improvement in relationships is geared
towards providing better services for urban poor and
directly contributing to urban poverty alleviation. The
report attempts to capture the new wave of enthusiasm and

Urbanization deserves urgent attention from policy makers, academics, entrepreneurs, and social reformers of all stripes. Nothing else will create as many opportunities for social and economic progress. The urbanization project began roughly 1,000 years after the transition from the Pleistocene to the milder and more stable Holocene interglacial. In 2010, the urban population in developing countries stood at 2.5 billion. The developing world can accommodate the urban population growth and declining urban density in many ways.

The accumulation of decent housing matters both because of the difference it makes to living standards and because of its centrality to economic development. The consequences for living standards are far-reaching. In addition to directly conferring utility, decent housing improves health and enables children to do homework. It frees up women's time and enables them to participate in the labor market. More subtly, a home and its environs affect identity and self-respect.

The great 21st-century migration into cities will present both a great challenge for humanity and a significant opportunity for global economic growth. This paper describes the diverse patterns that define this metropolitan migration. It then lays out a framework for understanding the costs and benefits of new arrivals through migration's externalities and the challenges and policy tradeoffs that confront city stakeholders.

Housing matters to the livability of cities and to the productivity of their economies. The failure of cities to accommodate the housing needs of growing urban populations can be seen in the proliferation of poorly serviced, high-density informal settlements. Such settlements are not new in the history of rapidly growing cities, their persistence results as much from policies as from economics and demographic transition. Slums have attracted most of the attention on urban housing in developing countries, and the Millennium Development Goals have given prominence to their reduction.

Cities' development matters to
Pakistan. It is central to economic growth, job creation and
quality of life. This is also one of the core themes in the
2011 Government of Pakistan Framework for Economic Growth
(FEG). This paper explores the conditions for
growth-enhancing spatial change in Pakistan s cities.
Cities' development matters to Pakistan. Two strands of
analysis are developed. First, it reviews the performance

This note explores issues within the
urban logistics and port-cities thematic pillar. It is one
of three focus areas, or thematic pillars, for the
multi-donor trust fund for sustainable logistics (MDTF-SL).
The goal of this pillar is to finance activities that will
assist developing countries in two areas; addressing urban
congestion resulting from retail distribution of goods, and
improving the sustainable design and operation of

This review analyzes the profile, trends
and challenges of Georgia's changing urban landscape
since independence in 1991 and provides policy suggestions
to facilitate the economic transition of the country through
its cities. In its analysis and subsequent recommendations
on policy interventions, this report draws on a program of
diagnostics called the 'Urbanization Review' (UR).
The UR diagnostic is based on three main pillars of urban

This paper takes a critical view of the
challenges that lie ahead for land?related development
projects in Central America. Drawing upon several sources of
information and types of analysis, including literature
reviews, field visits and rapid participatory assessments,
along with decades of professional experience, the authors
examine land-related development policies and projects over
the past two decades in Central America (although monitoring