A New Approach to Cities: Everyone Counts

Urban trends are making the push for inclusion more important than ever. Cities are growing at historic rates, with 90 percent of urban growth taking place in Asia and Africa. While urbanization has the potential to lift people out of poverty and increase prosperity, rising inequality and exclusion threaten to derail progress.

“When people move to cities they are looking for better jobs and more opportunity, but too often end up trapped in a stigmatized space of poverty and marginalization,” said Ede Ijjasz-Vasquez, Senior Director for the Social, Urban, Rural and Resilience Global Practice at the World Bank Group.

“This is particularly true for the nearly 1 billion urban poor who live in informal settlements around the world. The current levels of urban poverty and inequality, coupled with the projected rates of urbanization, send a clear and unequivocal signal: we need to do more to foster inclusion and we need to do it differently,” he added.

Exclusion makes it difficult for the poor to secure access, rights, land, and opportunities in urban areas, which exacerbates poverty. The development community is uniting behind efforts to make cities more inclusive.

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Source & Copyright: The World Bank