1st Edition
More Urban Less Poor An Introduction to Urban Development and Management
A world more urban... The world is undergoing massive urbanization, and is projected to increase from three to over four billion city dwellers, mostly in the developing world, within 15 years. This historic shift is producing dramatic effects on human well-being and the environment. ...but less poor Unplanned shanty-towns without basic services are not an inevitable consequence of urbanization and slums are not explained by poverty alone. Urban misery also stems from misguided policies, inappropriate legal frameworks, dysfunctional markets, poor governance, and not least, lack of political will. Urbanization and economic development go hand-in-hand and the productivity of the urban economy can and should benefit everyone. Living conditions for the urban poor can be dramatically improved with proper solutions, backed by decisive, concerted action. More Urban - Less Poor brings order to the complex and important field of urban development in developing and transitional countries. Written in an accessible style, the book examines how cities grow, their economic development, urban poverty, housing and environmental problems. It also examines how to face these challenges through governance and management of urban growth, the finance and delivery of services, and finding a role for development cooperation. This is essential reading for development professionals, researchers, students and others working on any facet of urban development and management in our rapidly urbanizing world. Published with SIDA
Biography
Goran Tanerfeldt, Architect SAR/MSA, is a senior advisor on urban development with more than forty years of international experience and has been the initiator and head of the Urban Division of the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida). Per Ljung is Chairman and CEO of PM Global Infrastructure, a firm that specializes in infrastructure reform and financing, and he has been head of the World Bank's operational division dealing with urban development in North Africa and the Middle East as well as chief of its central unit for policy development and research in urban development.
'A small book for big problems' Built Environment, 2006 ' [A] pithy, attractively produced volume [that] has a lot to say about how to get urbanisation right.' 'The authors...have decades of experience in implementing international cooperation programmes in the urban sector, notable among them some highly innovative efforts to make cities safe and liveable for the urban poor.' 'The chief strength of the book is that it lays out in a straightforward way the evidence suggesting that in a world that is now more than half urban and likely to become increasingly so, poverty-alleviation efforts need to focus on urban settlements.' 'Thisintroduction to urban development and management will be an excellent addition to the reference collections of domestic and international development NGOs, as well as CSOs not generally involved in urban development.' (All above) Development in Practice, Volume 17, Number 3, June 2007 'This is an excellent book, well-written and the authors have can see the big picture of human development. They offer much on planning and on governance.' Livestock Science
