... "New national and global policies and institutions are needed to address urban problems"

Many of the discussions about how to deal with urban problems (or environmental problems in general) focus on national strategies and better governance nationally. But most urban problems need local institutions to address them and to do so in ways that are accountable to local populations. In part, this is because of the phenomenal diversity between urban centres, which makes any generalised solutions invalid or of limited effectiveness. While tables that have urban population statistics for different nations may seem to show broad trends towards increasingly urbanised societies in much of the world, the scale and nature of such trends and their underlying causes differ greatly from country to country. There are also differences between regions and cities in the same country and over time. Even if globalisation and the legal and institutional changes it brings are an increasing influence in most urban centres, it is important not to forget how unique social, economic, political and demographic structures are influencing urban change within each location. Or the different resource bases in and around each city. Or how different the impact of globalisation is on each city. Or how undemocratic it is to impose 'solutions' that are not supported and developed with local populations... (the full text is available in the pdf file)

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... "National governments and international agencies must target their policies so as to reach those most in need in urban areas"

There are two contrasting ways to address urban poverty. One is directed by national governments and international agencies, designed by 'experts' drawing on official data and official definitions of 'who is poor' and 'who is in need' to identify 'target groups' and design policies to meet their needs. For most international agencies, these 'experts' are drawn primarily from high-income nations. The other way to address urban poverty is to make resources available to respond to and support local democratic processes in which the rights of all citizens to basic services, the rule of law and accountable institutions are stressed. Inevitably, all government policies are influenced in part by experts and in part by citizen pressures - but the tendency in the past has been to favour the expert driven top down approach. One of the difficulties with expert-led 'solutions' is that most experts lack knowledge about the specifics of each city or urban neighbourhood and most also lack engagement with the local population. Foreign experts often cannot speak the language of those living in the settlement where their recommendations will be implemented. Their recommendations are also biased by their experience in other nations or by their reading of other 'success stories'. It has also become fashionable for 'best practices' to be identified, documented and then touted as lessons that can be applied in other locations... (the full text is available in the pdf file)

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