The UN-Habitat has released a report on the Economic Role of Cities.
This report examines the economic role of cities and illustrates the important contributions of cities to national economic development and poverty reduction. It looks at the agglomeration economies, city clusters, city regions and mega city regions.
While cities take up approximately 2 per cent of the Earth’s land mass they cause up to 70 per cent of the worlds total CO2 emissions.
In Resolution 40/202 of 17 December 1985, the UN General Assembly designated the first Monday of October of every year as World Habitat Day.
In 2011, the theme of World Habitat Day is Cities and Climate Change. The effects of urbanization and climate change are converging in dangerous ways. The results of this convergence threaten to have unprecedented negative impacts on quality of life, and economic and social stability.
Resources: Cities and Climate Change: Global Report on Human Settlements 2011
From UN Pulse : Permanent Link: 3 October: World Habitat Day
Climate change and the urban poor. Risk and resilience in 15 of the world's most vulnerable cities
This report outlines lessons learnt regarding the rincipal effects of climate change on 15 cities in low-income countries, and what makes them vulnerable to these effects. Coastal cities are susceptible to a rise in sea level and are made vulnerable by the low-lying land they are often built on, while dryland cities suffer from scarce water resources due to extended periods of climate change-induced drought. In these and other inland cities, the level of poverty, the rapid pace of urbanization and a lack of education about climate change increase vulnerability and aggravate the effects of climate change. Innovative urban policies and practices have shown that adaptation to some of these effects is possible and can be built into development plans. These include community-based initiatives led by organizations formed by the urban poor, and local governments working in partnership with their low-income populations.
Areas: Mozambique, Tanzania, Kenya, Bangladesh, Benin, Mauritania, Senegal, Mali, Sudan, Nepal, Zimbabwe, Uganda, Zambia, Malawi
Published by IIED, 2009
Africa is in the midst of an urban transition, and getting this
transition right is critical. Over the next ten years, Africa’s urban
population is projected to increase by over 150 million. Economic
difficulties may reduce rural–urban migration, but Africa’s towns and
cities are not ready to accommodate anything like this many new
residents.
It is tempting for governments to respond to this
challenge by trying to discourage rural–urban migration. This report
argues that the challenge is not to curb urbanization, but to seize the
opportunities it provides, while curbing the inequalities and
environmental burdens that market-driven or poorly planned urbanization
can bring. Successful urban development is locally driven, but a
successful urban transition requires national support and regional
collaboration. It is regional collaboration, involving urban centres in
at least two different countries, that is the particular concern of
this report.
The State of African Cities Report 2008, released by UN-HABITAT notes that with rapidly increasing urban population, cities in Africa are faced with enormous challenges and will have to find ways to facilitate by 2015 urban services, livelihoods and housing for more than twice as many urban dwellers than it has today (full-text, pdf, 6129Kb).