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Showing all Blog Posts, Publications in Cities That Work
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Blog post
Towards sustainable water provision in Mandalay
The Mandalay City Development Committee (MCDC) is currently making a major loss in running its water system, with a deficit exceeding 50% of their operation and maintenance costs. This is without accounting for the need to expand and upgrade the system, much of which still stems from colonial times. How can policymakers ensure a sustainable future for piped-water supply in...
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Blog post
Urbanisation in fragile societies: Thinking about Kabul
As part of the Blavatnik School of Government’s “Challenges of Government” Conference, the International Growth Centre’s Cities that Work team put together a panel on identity and legitimacy in Kabul. The discussion highlighted the importance of building legitimacy in fragile contexts, particularly given the emergence of fragmented identities and new networks of...
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Blog post
Navigating the urban age
Whatever we might say is right or wrong with cities of the 21st century, they are indisputably a defining feature of our age. As much as we are post-modern, post-gender or post-colonial, we are also post-rural. Our existence, for an increasing majority, is urban. Even more than that, our aspirations are urban. This is visible almost everywhere. In the US, people with...
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Blog post
Urban data innovations: Three cities showing their smarts
Last year the International Growth Centre (IGC) co-hosted a policy workshop in Washington DC in the United States (US) with the World Bank, George Washington University, and the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) as part of the 6th Urbanisation and Poverty Reduction Conference. The theme was ‘Leveraging new data for better urban management and policies’. This year,...
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Publication - Policy Brief
Setting water tariffs right: Considerations and approaches
Governments must ensure access to water for all citizens as it is a right with far-reaching social, political and economic implications. To facilitate sustainable access to quality water, an appropriate approach to water tariffs needs to be determined that considers various contextual challenges and opportunities. This brief looks at the potential options for...
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Publication - Policy Brief
Urban mobility: policy decisions for connecting the city
This brief explores key trade-offs policymakers face in improving systems of urban mobility. Drawing on cross- city experience, it looks at addressing rising demands for private transport, options for formalising existing transport systems, and trade-offs policymakers face in investing in high capacity public transit.
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Publication - Growth Brief
The prospects for manufacturing-led growth in Africa’s cities
Many African countries are urbanising rapidly despite limited growth in manufacturing. Although other sectors could spur job creation and development, much like manufacturing, they need active public policy to support urban connectivity and business scale. Although the growth of cities in Africa has been closely linked to rising incomes across the continent, many...
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Blog post
Climate change: won or lost in cities or by cities?
Extinction Rebellion disrupted London and brought many transport routes to a standstill on Easter Weekend in 2019. A key demand for the direct action group was for the government to declare a climate emergency. This demand has since been met - by the UK parliament, as well as the Argentinian senate, the French parliament and the Canadian House of Commons. In fact,...
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Blog post
Urbanisation and structural transformation in Africa
Urbanisation is central to Africa’s development, yet the basic facts of the process remain a puzzle to social scientists and policymakers alike. Economists typically explain urbanisation through the combination of two forces: agricultural push and industrial pull. Agricultural gains provide the initial impetus to urbanisation because they allow food requirements to be...
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Blog post
Treedistribution: Combatting environmental inequality in cities
Inequality is not a recent phenomenon. One root of inequality can be traced back to pre-historic urban civilisations, where grain stores varied in size and the grain-wealthy clustered together in particular locations. But with the increasing importance of inequality across and within countries over time, governments have often first turned their attention to addressing the...