Project description

Over half of the world's population is now urban. As urban populations swell, metropolitan areas in both the developed and the developing world struggle to provide basic services and address the negative externalities associated with rapid growth. Sanitation, transportation, pollution, energy services, and public safety typically fall to sub-national governments. Yet local sub-national institutions face difficulties as they tackle these challenges because development tends to spill over political boundaries and resources are limited. Such difficulties are particularly acute in the developing world due to tighter resource constraints, weak institutions, and the comparative severity of the underlying problems. Moreover, democratization and decentralization suggest that urban governance and service delivery may have become more democratic, but present challenges with respect to priority setting, coordination, and corruption.

Project aims

Project outcome