In this report, ESCAP explores the future of urbanization in Asia and the Pacific, focusing on the dynamic shifts in the region’s urban landscape. It highlights the region’s demographic transformations, including population ageing, and the persistent challenges of urban poverty and inequality. The analysis covers urban areas of all sizes, …
Cities are key players in the renewable energy transition. The Preliminary Findings of the Renewables in Cities Global Status Report illustrates how cities are using renewable energy in the electricity, heating and cooling and transport sectors. The report looks at what motivates cities to use renewables and also documents the …
This report assesses current and future climate risks for the city of Amaravati (the new capital of Andhra Pradesh, India). It also discusses a climate-resilience framework for the city based on the city plans for energy, transport, and water. This study was conducted in collaboration with the University of East …
The Urban Transitions Alliance was built on the premise that by connecting industrial legacy cities from the US, Europe and China through their transition stories and visions of sustainable urban development, common challenges and transition pathways would emerge. The Alliance was designed to provide the infrastructure and support to advance …
African governments should embark on policy and regulatory reforms to attract investments required to bridge a housing deficit occasioned by rapid population growth, a pan-African housing financier, Shelter Afrique, said on Tuesday. Daniel Nghidinua, chairman of Shelter Afrique, said enactment of new policies and laws is key to addressing bottlenecks …
This paper examines the concept of urban clusters and explores its application in South Asia. Drawing lessons from international case studies, it highlights the advantages of clustered urbanization. It identifies developments around core cities Delhi, Dhaka, and Mumbai as mature clusters; and Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Colombo, Kathmandu, and Pune as …
From cities to the countryside, Africa has undergone a dramatic transformation in living conditions over the past 15 years, according to a new study. But the research, based on state of the art mapping and published in science journal Nature, also found that almost half of the the urban population …
For African cities to grow economically as they have grown in size, they must create productive environments to attract investments, increase economic efficiency, and create livable environments that prevent urban costs from rising with increased population densification. What are the central obstacles that prevent African cities and towns from becoming …
As water supplies in Ghana's capital grew increasingly erratic, Beatrice Kabuki stopped customers from using her grocery store's bathrooms and installed a plastic storage tank at her home. "The taps flow once a week and usually at night, so we stay awake to fetch what we can store," Kabuki, 35, …
China is committed to supporting conservation of Africa's iconic wildlife species amid threats linked to poaching, climatic stress and high rate of urbanization, an official said on Monday. Peng Youdong, deputy administrator of the National Forestry and Grassland Administration (NGFA) of China said that Beijing has provided funds, technology and …
According to the latest Economist survey report, Bengaluru has the lowest cost of living among the 133 cities surveyed across the world, more affordable than Karachi, Delhi and Chennai. Only Caracas (Venezuela), Damascus (Syria), Tashkent (Uzbekistan) and Almaty (Kazakhstan) had lower costs of living than Bengaluru. Chennai and New Delhi …
Vice-President M Venkaiah Naidu Wednesday said climate change, growing levels of pollution and eradicating poverty were some of the major challenges faced by the modern world and out-of-the-box ideas were required to tackle them. Participating in a function, here, he said, the challenges faced by the modern world were multi-dimensional …
A landmark UN report warned the world to drastically scale up environmental protections, or cities and regions in Asia, the Middle East and Africa could see millions of premature deaths by mid-century. The most comprehensive and rigorous assessment on the state of the environment completed in the last five years …
The objective of this paper is to analyse the finances of Mumbai, the largest Indian city. The population in the core city (central business district) of Mumbai has actually shown a decline between 2001 and 2011 census, and the population in the area covered under the Municipal Corporation of Greater …
Although Africa has experienced rapid urbanization in recent decades, know little about the process of urbanization across the continent. The paper exploits a natural experiment, the abolition of South African pass laws, to explore how exogenous population shocks affect the spatial distribution of economic activity. Under apartheid, black South Africans …
Nature-based Solutions (NBS) that strategically conserve or restore nature to support conventionally built infrastructure systems (also referred to as gray infrastructure) can reduce disaster risk and produce more resilient and lower-cost services in developing countries. In the disaster risk management (DRM) and water security sectors, NBS can be applied as …
The Urban Affairs Ministry has made amendments to the Model Building Byelaws (MBBL) 2016 and Urban Regional Development Plans Formulation and Implementation (URDPFI) Guidelines 2014, making provisions for establishing EV charging infrastructure. According to this, public charging station should be on both sides of the highways or roads on every …
As cities grow, the negative effects of congestion start to play their part, often affecting the cities' ability to become and remain competitive. Although many studies have focused on these negative effects, the links between pollution and city competitiveness are less explored. This paper focuses on this relationship, particularly the …
This paper surveys the recent literature exploring the causes of urban pollution in the developing world and the implications of such pollution for a city's competitiveness. Within a system of cities, cities compete for jobs and people. Those cities that specialize in heavy industrial activity will gain from a manufacturing …
The paper uses two criteria to identify cities in the Global South that today are candidates for electrification – replacing fossil fuel–powered vehicles, stoves, furnaces and other devices with electric alternatives. First, urban access to electricity (i.e., the percentage of people with a household electricity connection) must already be greater …
This reference guide from the USAID-funded Adaptation Thought Leadership and Assessments (ATLAS) project provides an overview of the wide range of finance mechanisms available to governments to fund climate resilience initiatives at both the national and local level. The guide also outlines the opportunities and challenges for municipal governments in …
