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, …
If India continues with its current trend of ‘poorly planned, sprawling and unconnected’ pattern of urbanisation, it could cost the country upto USD 1.8 trillion by mid-century finds this study by New Climate Economy Better, smarter urban growth could be an economic opportunity for India worth up to 6% of …
As a major global economic driving force, the transport sector –and in particular the automotive sector– has provided employment and shaped technological progress over the course of a century. This is true for Germany as much as it is for China. Daunting climate and environmental concerns have cast a large …
This report looks at the problems surrounding sanitation in our rapidly urbanising world and highlights the health threats caused by 700 million urban dwellers worldwide living without a toilet. Human beings are now largely an urban species: for the first time in history, more than half of the world's population …
This report looks at the problems surrounding sanitation in our rapidly urbanising world and highlights the health threats caused by 700 million urban dwellers worldwide living without a toilet. Human beings are now largely an urban species: for the first time in history, more than half of the world's population …
This report, “Nepal – Water Risk Scenarios and Opportunities for Resilient Development,” is a product of an eighteen-month long process designed to engage experts, influencers, decision-makers, and key stakeholders in Nepal on the nature and potential consequences of risks faced by Nepal’s water resources. WWF’s Living Himalayas Initiative initiated the …
A study released today by IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, shows that the historic global agreement on climate change adopted in Paris last year helped open up nearly $23 trillion in opportunities for climate-smart investments in emerging markets between now and 2030. Since the Paris Agreement was …
Africa’s “Growth Miracle” in the 21st century has reversed a long standing narrative of pessimism about the region. It has emboldened hope for the future. GDP growth reached around 5% annually from 2001-2014. Rates of extreme poverty fell substantially. Yet big challenges remain. Growth slumped in 2015 and 2016. The …
Transforming Chennai analyses how urban planning and the business climate shaped micro, small, and medium enterprise (MSME) resilience to the effects of the December 2015 floods in Chennai, India. The core of this study is the primary research conducted with thirty-five MSMEs and two large corporations. A resilience framework highlights …
This document discusses the importance of bringing disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation to urban planning in order to create safer spaces for citizens. 'Building Resilient Cities' highlights the challenges specific to urban environments in case of disaster and calls for the development of improved earthquake early warning systems. …
This report explores for the first time the scale of the challenge for 20 cities across the world to reach selected targets set out in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). More than half of the targets included will require a profound acceleration of efforts if they are to be achieved …
Greater investment in greener, more sustainable transport systems is essential for propelling the economic and social development that is essential for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, according to an expert panel report delivered to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. Finding that global, national and local transport systems are hobbled by inefficiencies …
France today appreciated India’s initiatives for addressing climate change concerns by making it an integral part of its urban missions. During a meeting with visiting French Minister of State for Industry Christophe Sirugue here, Union Urban Development Minister Venkaiah Naidu said sustainable and climate-friendly planning have been made the cornerstone …
A major independent report emphasises that the Government of Bangladesh and its partners must rally to end hunger and improve nutrition to sustain the country’s remarkable economic trajectory. Led by a team of national experts and guided by a wide range of stakeholders across the country, the report identifies substantial …
Cities in the developing world are rapidly expanding, boosting countries’ economies, reducing poverty, and fueling global prosperity. But as more people, assets, and economic activity become concentrated in cities, and infrastructure struggles to keep up with rapid growth, the risk posed by natural disasters and climate change is rising. The …
This report considers how to integrate health into urban planning, investments, and policy decisions, so as to support the implementation and achievement of the goals and objectives of the New Urban Agenda. The Third United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development, Habitat III, will produce a new agenda …
Urbanisation offers substantial opportunities to reduce poverty, in part because it is more cost-effective to meet many basic needs in cities than in rural areas. This paper demonstrates that providing electricity to the 200 million urban residents who currently lack access would require only US$1.37 billion per year to 2045. …
By 2030, over a billion people will live in approximately 100 very large cities and 60 % of the world’s population will live in urban areas. Sustainable water management is particularly challenging in these large urban centres, or megacities, which are exposed to extreme risks in terms of the negative …
The transition to renewables cuts across the entire urban energy landscape, from buildings to transport, to industry and power. Renewables can bring tremendous benefits to cities, including cleaner air, modern services and improved living spaces. At the same time, cities are crucial to the world’s transition to a low-carbon economy, …
Increasing the resilience of buildings to natural hazards is essential as we strive to design more sustainable cities. Earthquakes pose considerable risks, as they have caused the highest number of casualties due to natural hazards in the last decade. During the second half of the century, more than 75 % …
The human and economic costs of air pollution in Africa are growing fast, according to a new OECD Development Centre study on the Cost of Air Pollution in Africa. Already, they are surpassing the costs associated with unsafe sanitation or underweight children. Without bold policy changes in Africa’s urbanisation policies, …
