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Urban development
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Background: the age of cities
The new millennium heralded the start of the age of cities. For the first time in the history of mankind the majority of the world's population is now living in cities.
The past one hundred years saw considerable population growth: In 1900 the global population was 1.6 billion, but by 1999 there were already 6 billion people on the earth. The 7 billion mark will be reached sometime in 2011. From the middle of this century the global population is set to slowly level out at around 10 billion.
Whereas in past centuries natural population growth primarily occurred in rural regions, today that growth is mainly registered in cities. In the mid-20th century 30 per cent of the population lived in the world's urban centres. In 2008 that figure rose above 50 per cent for the first time – and the trend is upwards. By 2050 more than two thirds of the world's population will be living in urban centres.
Some 180,000 city dwellers are added each day. This growth is occurring almost exclusively in urban conurbations in developing countries, while the big metropolises in industrialised countries are expanding more slowly, even shrinking in some cases. Two out of every three children born in developing countries today will grow up in a city. In Latin America the rate of urbanisation is already over 80 per cent; by 2030 that rate will rise to more than 50 per cent in Asia and Africa, too.
According to United Nations estimates, by 2030 60 per cent of all city dwellers worldwide will be below the age of 18. The causes of urban growth have shifted: In the past the key factors behind urbanisation were rural out-migration and industrial development; today the main reason is natural growth among those already living in cities.
It is expected that by 2020 there will be 27 megacities in the world, that is cities with a population of more than 10 million. Only four of those will not be in a developing country. These megacities overshadow the dynamic growth of thousands of small and medium-sized cities with populations of less than 5 million. The global trend towards urbanisation calls for adapted and sustainable urban settlement concepts. The United Nations Programme for Human Settlements (UN-HABITAT) described further urbanisation trends in its annual report "State of the World’s Cities 2010-2011": On the one hand, more and more cities are merging to form mega regions. On the other hand, cities are spreading outwards over ever larger areas. Unchecked urban development promotes the migration of more affluent sections of the population from more densely populated centres out into the suburbs and the expansion of informal settlements.
The more the urban population grows, the more the potentials and challenges of global development will be focussed on cities, be that in terms of poverty reduction, economic growth or achieving climate and development targets.
Reducing urban poverty
One of the attendant features of worldwide urbanisation is that the poor are concentrated in cities. Poverty has many facets there: low income, lack of opportunities and means of participation in political and economic life, human rights abuses and no access to resources. At the same time, on account of their high population densities cities are focal points for effectively combating poverty, for example through education initiatives and job promotion schemes, or by providing access to infrastructure and housing.
In adopting MDG 7 the international community has pledged to achieve a significant improvement in the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers by 2020 (Target 7.D). According to UN-HABITAT, that goal was already achieved in 2010: Between 2000 and 2010 a total of 227 million people in developing countries and emerging economies were able to move out of urban slums. It appears that the share of slum dwellers in the urban population dropped from 39 to an estimated 32 per cent. China and India contributed in large part to that decrease, given that the living conditions of 125 million slum dwellers were significantly improved in these two countries. But these figures need to be seen against the backdrop of a big increase in the urban population overall and high immigration rates in urban slums.
In absolute figures a different picture thus emerges. According to UN-HABITAT, over the same decade the overall number of slum dwellers rose from 776 to 827 million. Since the vast majority of global population growth occurs in urban slums, the number of slum dwellers will probably more than triple to 3 billion by 2050. One in three people in the world would then be suffering from extreme poverty and indecent living conditions. This particular MDG is, therefore, highly topical.
Risks associated with urbanisation
Growth in cities in developing countries goes hand in hand with a rapid increase in poverty. In many places, environmental and living conditions are extremely poor, particularly in slums. Those living in densely populated slums often do not have access to safe drinking water or sanitation. Often there are no sewerage or organised waste disposal systems – with serious consequences for the population's health. Rights of settlement and land ownership are not clearly regulated. Large parts of the mostly young population are insufficiently qualified and have no access to the formal labour market. Their opportunities for earning money are therefore low and a growing lack of prospects is often accompanied by a rise in violence and conflicts. In many big cities in developing countries rich areas with good infrastructure exist alongside poor areas in which there is extreme social, political and economic exclusion. This holds much potential for conflict and is also increasingly robbing cities of their creative and economic opportunities.
This – often unchecked – urban growth also poses a danger to the climate and the environment: More and more land is being sealed; soils and waters are being contaminated. Given their high rate of water, energy and resource consumption by trade, households and transportation, cities contribute disproportionately to the exploitation of available resources and to rising carbon dioxide emissions and, ultimately, to global warming. Today, cities are responsible for producing 80 per cent of all waste and 60 per cent of greenhouse gases.
Opportunities created by urbanisation
However, urbanisation also holds huge opportunities when it comes to development: Cities are centres of innovation, education and employment, business and culture, of local self-government and liberal democratic convictions, civil society and political development. They are the engines driving many economies: Countries with a high per capita income usually have more productive centres, while the world's least developed countries have the lowest rates of urbanisation. Due to their size and settlement density, cities are able to provide a better and more cost-effective social infrastructure than thinly populated areas. Many people have access to educational and health facilities. It is easier for women and socially disadvantaged groups in particular to participate in social, political and cultural life.
Cities also have an important role to play when it comes to environmental progress and climate protection. Eco-friendly urban development can contribute significantly to the sustainable use of resources, for instance through environmentally compatible local public transport, resource-efficient waste disposal cycles or forward-looking energy concepts. International and national climate protection targets are implemented at city and local level. People are thus able to directly see and feel the immediate effects of improvements made to their living and working environment, are able to better organise their life and participate in political processes.
What German development cooperation is doing in this field
German development cooperation picks up on the potentials inherent in cities, promoting a wide spectrum of measures ranging from individual projects to strengthen civil society at local level to supporting governments in drawing up integrated strategies and national programmes.
Eliminating social inequalities and reducing poverty are always very much to the fore. Integrated and participatory urban development calls for local self-government and the opportunity to participate in political processes. Targeted support is provided to civil society and business to enable their active involvement. Social development and local employment programmes open up economic prospects for the urban population. Providing cost-effective and needs-based infrastructure (especially water, wastewater, waste, electricity and transportation) and social services, upgrading and modernising informal settlements, and safeguarding tenure contribute to adequate living conditions as well as legal certainty and planability. Further, German development cooperation backs environmentally friendly urban development and climate protection measures at municipal level.
German development cooperation always pays special attention to the introduction and implementation of good governance: Through participation and responsible, democratically legitimate city councils cities are to develop strategic guidance on and approaches to sustainable development at local level and to provide the necessary legal and financial bases.
Urban development and inter-municipal cooperation can have a sustainable impact when they are part of a national urban development policy. German development policy pursues this multi-level approach in its partner countries and in an international and multilateral context.
Cooperation with international actors
German development cooperation works with international actors in the field of urban development both at multilateral level and through bilateral partnerships.
As a member of the United Nations, Germany actively supports the United Nations Programme for Human Settlements (UN-HABITAT), the UN's central organisation for urban development, settlements and housing. UN-HABITAT's core tasks include policy advice, training and upskilling, and knowledge management. In addition, it promotes partnerships to strengthen sustainable urban development. The organisation is currently running more than 200 programmes and projects in over 80 countries. At the 5th World Urban Forum 2010 – the world's most important conference dealing with urbanisation issues that is organised by UN-HABITAT – Germany provided a number of contributions as well as an opportunity for exchange with partners on its exhibition stand. UN-HABITAT is largely funded from the regular UN budget (to which Germany contributes 8.7 per cent) and via voluntary pledges from Member States that are tied to specific measures.
The Cities Alliance – Cities Without Slums initiative is a global coalition of cities and development partners founded by the World Bank and UN-HABITAT in 1999. It aims to support slum upgrading as a contribution to achieving MDG 7 (Target 7.D: "a significant improvement in the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers"). The Cities Alliance has so far made a total of 88 million US dollars available, tied to investments amounting to more than 8 billion US dollars. The German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) has provided 2.95 million US dollars to the initiative over a 10-year period.
With more than 1,220 local government representatives from more than 70 countries, ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability is the world's largest association of local governments in the field of environmental protection and sustainable development. Among other things, ICLEI is responsible for organising the annual Resilient Cities Congress, which aims to firmly establish local solutions to global challenges in the context of sustainable urban development, including establishing the Local Agenda 21, local environmental management and urban adaptation to climate change. The BMZ will be providing a total of 900,418 euros in the period to 2012 towards the construction and expansion of a knowledge centre in connection with the setting up of the ICLEI's World Secretariat in Bonn, Germany.
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