More than 20 mayors and governors from the world’s major cities and senior representatives from over 80 cities participated in the 9th World Congress of Metropolis, hosted by the New South Wales Government and held in Sydney 22-25 October. Key issues explored throughout the four day Congress program included climate change, urban renewal, financing public infrastructure and services and city leadership.

Big city mayors attending included mayor of Seoul Mr Oh Se-Hoon, mayor of Mumbai Dr Sh more...

At the Tokyo Conference for Climate Change in October, representatives from the so-called C40 cities warned that crowded urban areas were particularly susceptible to the Planet’s rising temperatures. The group of cities, whose members include Berlin, Beijing, Hong Kong, Johannesburg, London, Paris, Sao Paulo, New York and Toronto, pledged to fight climate change by taking measures ranging from promoting renewable energy to introducing new building regulations designed to reduce the consumption more...

American city mayors are seeking money from the federal government to help with pension costs, infrastructure and social projects. Chris Hoene, director of policy and research at the National League of Cities, told reporters that revenue was down 4.3 per cent from last year in American cities. “Cities are in what looks like the first wave of a three- to four-year financial decline.” He said revenue from property, income and sales taxes are all down at the same time for the first time in a su more...

Birmingham’s diversity is fundamental to its social and economic future. One of the most ethnically diverse cities in Europe, Birmingham relishes the cultural and entrepreneurial energy that comes from bringing together different perspectives, orientations and traditions. The City honours its past and the industrial base on which it was built, whilst celebrating the fact that it has the youngest population of any major European city. Birmingham welcomes the international links that our peop more...

The word transition perhaps best describes China: the world’s most populous country is transitioning from a predominantly rural society to an urban one. China’s urbanization process in the last two decades has been extraordinary: the urbanization level in the country has nearly doubled from 25 per cent in 1987 to roughly 42 per cent in 2007; it is estimated that by 2030, 60 per cent of the country’s population will be urban.
China is also transitioning from a centralized planned economy t more...

UN-HABITAT analysis of 245 cities that are experiencing the fastest growth in the developing world shows very clearly that spatial influences of macroeconomic and industrial policies and related investments (or economic development), are the main drivers of city growth in 78 per cent of the cities analyzed. Investments in transport infrastructure (roads, ports, airports) were by and large the most important contributor to city growth. Forty per cent of the cities analyzed experienced high growth more...

'Economic growth will be unbalanced, but development still can be inclusive. That is the main message of this year's World Development Report. The report proposes that spatial transformations along the following three dimensions will be necessary:' Density, Distance, Division. The World Bank, 2008.

Somewhere, some time this year, a baby will be born on the 25th floor of a city hospital or the dirt floor of a dark slum shack; a first-year college graduate will rent a cramped apartment in lower Manhattan or a family of five will finally concede their plot of farm land to an encroaching desert - or sea - and turn towards Jakarta or La Paz or Lagos in search of a new livelihood and a new home. The arrival of this family or graduate or baby will tip the world’s demographic scale and, for the more...

The close correlation between urbanization and rising incomes has long been noted. It has been ascribed to the transfer of labor from agriculture into industrial activities that are induced by agglomeration effects to concentrate in cities, which have been among the principal beneficiaries of technological advances and of scale economies (Henderson 2000; Glaeser and others 1992). This experience of the advanced nations is being replicated in countries now moving up the ladder of development. In more...

Although food assistance needs in urban and peri-urban areas are expected to require increased resources in the coming years, most experience with food-based programs is in rural areas. Against this backdrop, USAID's Office of Food for Peace Occasional Paper No. 6, Emergencies in Urban Settings: A Technical Review of Food-Based Program Options, examines 11 common food-based programs to highlight advantages, disadvantages, targeting and implementation modalities in the urban context. The paper al more...