• Editors' Summary
• Credits

1. An Urban Future
2. The Urban Poor
3. Pollution and Health
4. Impact on the Environment
5. Making Urban Areas Work
• Improving Urban Goverance
• Improving the Lives of the Urban Poor
• Improving Water Supplies and Sanitation
• Curbing Air Pollution
• Recycling Wastes
• A Way Forward

• Figures
• Tables
• Side-bars
• Bibliography

• Developing countries face fastest urban growth
• Why urban areas are growing
• The poor have greatest health risks
• Heavy ecological footprints
• Improving urban governance
• Assuring water and sanitation
• Mumbai cleans up

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• Media/Materials Clearinghouse
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Making Urban Areas Work

As urban areas in developing countries become ever more crowded over the next quarter century, governments and citizens will face a growing challenge: how to make urban areas work (13, 80). Increasingly, according to the UN Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat), cities will become the “test bed for the adequacy of political institutions, the performance of government, and the effectiveness of programs to combat social exclusion, protect and repair the environment, and promote human development” (137).

Today, few urban areas are equipped to meet the challenge (129, 136, 137). In 1987 the World Commission on Environment and Development reported that “in the space of one decade, the developing world will have to increase by 65% its capacity to produce and manage its urban infrastructure, services, and shelter—merely to maintain present conditions” (159). This goal was not met (128).

In fact, many urban areas are growing in population so fast that their economies, services, and infrastructures cannot keep up (12). Most developing countries lack the resources and ability to solve the complex and massive problems of their urban areas any time soon. Nevertheless, many can take steps to address urban problems better. Among other measures, they can improve urban governance, upgrade slums and provide alternatives to the creation of new slums, curb pollution, and manage waste disposal better

Ilene Chupnick

Cuernavaca, Mexico. As urban areas become more crowded, they must improve governance, build community participation, and help the poor.

Governance is more than government. It includes not only the organization of and relationships between political and administrative institutions but also the relationships among government, private institutions, and civil society (105, 142). The UN defines governance as “the sum of ways through which individuals and institutions, both public and private, plan and manage their common affairs” (137).

How can urban governance improve? Around the world, a new consensus is emerging that national governments should not retain direct control over the planning and management of urban areas. Instead, national governments should act as enablers, creating legislative and administrative environments in which a wide range of local governments, private-sector firms, and community organizations can deliver infrastructure and services to urban areas (137). For example, national governments can focus on attracting favorable foreign investments, encouraging appropriate technology transfers, undertaking joint public-private initiatives to provide housing and basic services, and setting environmental standards (25).

Decentralizing power, authority, and responsibility from national to local governments can enhance local participation and encourage democratic practices. Decentralization can improve the effectiveness of public policy implementation and produce policies and programs that are both more efficient and more responsive to local preferences and needs (33, 40, 85, 137).

In general, three conditions must be met for decentralization to be effective. First, national and state authorities need to devolve budget authority to the municipal level (51, 110, 136, 156). In most countries the main sources of municipal revenues are local taxes and transfers from central to local governments (137). Officials at higher levels of government often are reluctant to relinquish financial resources to lower levels, however (85). Without this crucial revenue, municipal governments have little ability to operate.

Second, the administrative capacity of local governments must grow. Local governments often lack the experience of central governments. Local government officials and employees may need training in such areas as accounting, public administration, financial management, public communication, and community relations (140, 156).

Third, decentralization works best when it is inclusive—that is, when authorities ask about and respond to community needs and interests and when community members participate in decision-making. Community participation helps ensure responsiveness and accountability in public decision-making (137, 140, 141). Community leaders and residents know the problems they face and often can suggest effective solutions. Governments can help to ensure people’s participation through elections and referenda, opinion surveys, and open meetings, and by setting up advisory groups or community oversight committees (85).

In Porto Alegre, Brazil, the local government in 1989 systematized and institutionalized public participation in the preparation of government budgets. Each year, citizens participate in two meetings organized by the local government. They rank their 5 top priority needs from a list of 14 needs, including education, housing, sewerage, and pavement. The local government uses this list to revise regional plans and budget allocations (121, 141).

Since this inclusive planning process began, remarkable gains have been made in improving conditions for the area’s poor. In seven years the share of households with access to water increased from 80% to 98%, and the share with access to sewerage grew from 46% to 85%. The approach has been so successful that it has been replicated in 100 other Brazilian municipalities (141).