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Showing all Blog Posts, Publications in Cities That Work
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Blog post
How transport reforms have impacted urban connectivity in Kenya
For this third blog in our series on Chinese and African urbanisation, we explore how transport reforms have affected the delivery of urban connectivity infrastructure in Kenya, and how this compares with the different growth experiences of Chinese cities. Early investment in transportation has been a fundamental feature of China’s relatively successful urban and...
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Blog post
Housing in Hawassa: How to accommodate migrant labour in industrialising cities
Lessons from China might inform urbanisation and industrialisation in Ethiopia, including labour rights and housing policies within an expanding manufacturing market. As we discuss in the first blog of this China-Africa series, urbanisation in sub-Saharan Africa has so far not been accompanied by a process of industrialisation, contrasting with the development...
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Blog post
What a rapidly urbanising Africa can learn from China’s experience
The parallels between Africa and China’s urbanisation trajectories could offer policymakers potential policy design lessons to learn from. For example, some of China’s recent successes in managing urbanisation, if adequately adapted to the unique and diverse African context, could potentially help the continent’s burgeoning city growth become more sustainable and...
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Publication - Policy Brief
Urban property taxes in Pakistan’s Punjab
Property tax is a significantly under-utilised tax instrument in Punjab, accounting for only 6% of the total provincial tax. With a population of over 100 million, all of Punjab collects less urban property tax than the city of Chennai in India, home to about 10 million people. Punjab's cities have significant service delivery deficits. For example, only 35% of urban...
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Blog post
For the urban poor, trade may be the only lifeline during a pandemic
Trade routes have been significantly disrupted with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. As formal firms reel under the consequent demand and supply shock, the urban poor engaging in informal trade with little social protection have been pushed further into the margins, and are struggling simply for survival. The outbreak of the plague in Surat, India in 1994 claimed...
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Blog post
Devolve more power to cities: they will need it more than ever
Cities with devolved powers can react more quickly to the pandemic. But many don’t have the control they need to respond to shocks. Astrid R.N. Haas and Shahrukh Wani (International Growth Centre) argue that a reluctance by central governments to devolve power is holding them back. COVID-19, like every single pandemic in the last 30 years, started in a city and...
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Publication - Miscellaneous
Presentation: Taxing urban land and property
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Publication - Policy paper
Designed to succeed: Building authorising environments for fast-growing cities
Cities are where prosperity is won or lost. They can either be the engines of economic growth, or dysfunctional sites of congestion, crowding, and discontent. One of the main differences is due to the quality and effectiveness of policy decisions: some city governments can take effective, timely decisions that support the productivity-enhancing features of cities, while...
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Publication - Policy paper
Urban land use planning for economic growth
Land use planning plays a crucial role in improving the productivity, livability, and sustainability of developing cities. Drawing on successful reforms from developed and developing countries, this paper explores the trade-offs associated with designing and enforcing land use plans and regulations in the context of rapid and often informal urban development
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Blog post
The gateway to carbon pricing? Air pollution policy
Buying carbon is too cheap and easy. 'Gateway tax', focussing on air pollution, could be initial step. Outdoor air pollution causes 4 million deaths a year. When it comes to climate policies, of those available, the economist’s preferred tool tends to be the elusive carbon tax’. Despite notable successes, the implementation of carbon...