Morocco is a middle-income country with
good water infrastructure that provides access to safe
drinking water and sanitation to the majority of the urban
population. In 2005, Morocco made it a priority to extend
service to poor peri-urban settlements, and encouraged
operators and local governments to reduce connection fees
for their inhabitants. These connection fees had been priced
at marginal cost, which represented a major obstacle for

After many decades of stagnation, Kenyan
economy started to grow from the early-2000s. Much of this
growth has been attributed to total factor productivity
improvements in Kenyan economy arising out of many factors.
A large share of this growth originated in urban areas, in
the service and manufacturing sectors. These gains also
paralleled reduction in poverty and higher enrolment in
primary education. Yet, it has been argued that Kenyan

This book reviews the role of addressing
within the array of urban management tools and explores the
links between addressing and civic identity, urban
information systems, support to municipal services, tax
systems, land management and tenure issues, slum upgrading,
support to concessionary services, and economic development.
It outlines current and future applications, highlights
practices in many African countries, and offers a

This history illustrates a number of
themes encountered in Swaziland that faces developing
countries and their external partners in Africa and beyond.
Firstly, the history relates the experience of a small and
comparatively insular country in addressing complex
challenges deriving from rapid urbanization and, as a
result, the growing need to adapt governance systems and
structures. A second key issue is the challenge that small

A recent study of house price behavior
in U.S. cities by Gyourko, Mayer, and Sinai (2006) raises
questions about so-called superstar cities in which housing
is so inelastically supplied that it becomes unaffordable,
as higher-income families outbid residents. We consider the
case of Accra, Ghana, in this light, estimating the
elasticity of housing supply and discussing the implications
for growth and income distribution. There is not a great

The present report was prepared on the
basis of the findings of an international workshop held from
September 12-14, 2005, in Salvador da Bahia, and was
attended by delegations of three to five practitioners from
12 cities in Latin America, Africa and Asia. It had two main
objectives: (a) to share experiences on innovative solutions
to provide electricity services in poor peri-urban and urban
areas; and (b) to develop a body of knowledge to be

By reviewing the Bank's experience
with shelter lending, this paper seeks to address the
question of whether the Bank has helped developing countries
deal with the inevitable problems that arise with
urbanization, particularly problems with the provision of
shelter. It reviews the Bank's performance, with a
focus on identifying lessons learned so that current demands
can be more effectively addressed. In contrast to earlier

This study looks at the experience of integrated urban upgrading in a low-income neighborhood of Salvador, Bahia, Brazil. Infrastructure and social investments have been made in the community through a government program, with community participation playing a major role in the design and implementation. This approach is now perceived to be highly successful in terms of its implementation and positive impact on living conditions, and will provide the basis for a major state-wide program.

Strategies to help the one billion people worldwide who live in informal settlements have mainly focused on slum upgrading, sites and services programs, and tenure security. In contrast, there has been less attention on what enables slum dwellers to transition into the formal housing sector, which has the dual benefits of improving service access and escaping social stigma. In this paper the authors investigate residential mobility among slum dwellers in Bhopal, India.

This book talks about participation,
from the first to the last page. And that is its strength,
for participation is a road leading to democracy. The true
participation it talks about does not rely on hours of
compulsory labor or imposed levies; there is nothing forced
about it. Rather, it is a process in which men and women
engage their will, their sense of responsibility, their
abilities, their dignity. It is a vital participation,

Informal settlements are an integral
part of the urban landscape in developing countries. These
settlements are widely distributed within cities, including
central business centers and peripheral areas with
environment hazards. In most cases, residents of these
settlements do not have access to basic public services and
amenities. In this paper, the authors examine the impact of
interventions, such as upgrading basic services and

The study aims to contribute towards a
national urban strategy, in an effort to maximize
Mexico's cities competitiveness, and livelihoods, in
the urban economists' terms - to maximize agglomeration
economies, while minimizing congestions costs. The country
is in a good position for this challenge: it has relatively
a mature urban system, implying an overall urban population
growth, and, a reasonably balanced system of cities.