IGC Evidence Paper - Cities

Much of the developing world has begun to rapidly urbanise. This has led to the creation of developing cities and the emergence of mega-cities around the world. The benefits of this dense clustering of individuals have been well documented in many more developed cities. In fact, it has been observed that productivity in these urban clusters is significantly higher than in rural areas and that they do often become primary engines of economic growth. As a result, the potential effects of productive cities on economic growth in developing countries are very large. The question remains however of how to turn these rapid rates of urbanisation into effective drivers of growth as opposed to large wasted opportunities.