Despite the increasing attention in recent years to the spatial dimensions of economic development, consideration of the importance of space and the recognition that macro, aspatial perspectives can prove to be misleading are not new.
... See More + Around the world, much of the disappointment with the outcomes from spatial interventions may be traced to a lack of understanding of how regional economies work. This paper reviews the challenges that the consideration of regions brings into economic analysis. This work provides an overview of some of the key methods and tools that can be used to gain a better understanding of how regional economies work. The review aims to guide practitioners and analysts in the use of tools for regional economic analysis and inform discussion of the challenges regions face and the opportunities on which they can build.
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Policy Research Working Paper WPS9056 NOV 11, 2019
Jackson,Randall W; Hewings,Geoffrey J. D.; Rey,Serge; Lozano Gracia,NancyDisclosed
This paper explores the links between city competitiveness and air pollution and the business environment. Because competitive cities not only attract more productive firms, but also facilitate their business, the paper look at firm performance as a proxy for city competitiveness.
... See More + It focuses on African firms, because this region is developing fast and experiencing increasing pollution levels and the effects of agglomeration economies. The analysis finds two interesting results. First, the negative association between air pollution and firm performance can be seen at lower than expected levels of pollution. Second, the effects of capacity agglomeration on labor productivity growth are stronger compared to other regions. These findings suggest that cities in this region should address pollution issues soon, as they continue to grow fast and pollution levels are becoming an increasing concern.
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Policy Research Working Paper WPS8834 APR 30, 2019
As cities grow, the negative effects of congestion start to play their part, often affecting the cities' ability to become and remain competitive.
... See More + Although many studies have focused on these negative effects, the links between pollution and city competitiveness are less explored. This paper focuses on this relationship, particularly the links between air pollution and city growth, and how it correlates with city competitiveness. Although high-income cities are usually better at managing pollution, the paper finds successful examples of fast-growing, lower-income cities that are able to tackle this issue. The evidence shows that cities can be competitive and still manage pollution, as long as they have a proactive attitude and focus on developing a green agenda to support this journey.
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Policy Research Working Paper WPS8740 FEB 14, 2019
This paper surveys the recent literature exploring the causes of urban pollution in the developing world and the implications of such pollution for a city's competitiveness.
... See More + Within a system of cities, cities compete for jobs and people. Those cities that specialize in heavy industrial activity will gain from a manufacturing boom but are more likely to be polluted than a city that specializes in the service economy and one that makes investments in regulations to reduce the social costs of power generation, transportation, and household services. The paper explores three main questions. First, why does pollution inhibit urban competitiveness? Second, why is this effect likely to grow in importance over time? Third, why have cities been slow to adopt cost-effective regulatory strategies?
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The impact of urban form on economic performance and quality of life has been extensively recognized. The studies on urban form have focused in developed countries; only a few cities in developing countries have been studied.
... See More + This paper utilizes nighttime lights imagery and information on street networks, automatically retrieved from OpenStreetMap, to calculate a series of spatial metrics that capture different aspects of the urban form of 919 Latin American and Caribbean cities. The paper classifies these cities into clusters according to these spatial metrics. It also studies the relationship between the urban form metrics and some factors that can correlate with urban form (topography, size, colony, and economic performance) and performs a spatio-temporal analysis of urban growth from 1996 to 2010. Among the results, the paper highlights the identification of five typologies of cities, the tendency of a group of cities to grow at a steeper slope, some worrying cases of urban growth over protected areas, and a trend toward increasing sprawl in some Latin American and Caribbean cities.
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Policy Research Working Paper WPS8702 JAN 15, 2019
This paper provides empirical evidence on the impact of institutional fragmentation and metropolitan coordination on urban productivity in Latin American cities.
... See More + The use of night-time lights satellite imagery and high-resolution population data allow the use of a broader definition of metropolitan area. Thus, metropolitan area consists of the urban extent that results from the union between the formally defined metropolitan area and the contiguous patches of urbanized areas with more that 500,000 inhabitants. The initial results suggest that the presence of multiple local governments within metropolitan areas generates opposite effects on urban productivity. On the one hand, smaller governments tend to be more responsive and efficient, which increases productivity. But, on the other hand, multiple local governments face coordination costs that reduce productivity.
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Policy Research Working Paper WPS8696 JAN 10, 2019
This paper examines the linkages between urban form and city productivity, using alternative metrics for urban form and applying them to a comprehensive sample of Latin American cities.
... See More + Although most of the literature has concentrated on the effects of population density (compact versus sprawling urban development), this paper seeks to assess whether different dimensions of a city's urban form, such as shape, structure, and land-use, affect its economic performance. The paper finds that the shape of the urban extent, the inner-city connectedness, and fullness have a statistically significant influence on the productivity level of the city.
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Policy Research Working Paper WPS8697 JAN 10, 2019
In over 70 years since its independence, Indonesia has been transformed by urbanization, and within the next quarter of a century, its transition to an urban society will be almost complete.
... See More + While urbanization has produced considerable benefits for Indonesians, urbanization has the potential to deliver more prosperity, inclusiveness and livability. Time to ACT: Realizing Indonesia's Urban Potential explores the extent to which urbanization in Indonesia has delivered in terms of prosperity, inclusiveness, and livability, and the fundamental reforms that can help the country realize its urban potential. In doing so, the report introduces a new policy framework - the ACT framework - to guide policymaking. This framework emphasizes three policy principles - the need to Augment the provision and quality of infrastructure and basic services across urban and rural locations; the need to better Connect places and people with jobs and opportunities; and the need to Target lagging areas and marginalized groups through well-designed place-based policies, as well as thoughtful urban planning and design. Using this framework, the report provides policy recommendations differentiated by types of place, grounded in solid empirical evidence.
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Publication 142374 JAN 01, 2019
Roberts,Mark; Gil Sander,Frederico; Tiwari,Sailesh; Amri,Mulya; Baker,Judy L.; Coulibaly,Souleymane; Lozano Gracia,Nancy; Park,Jane; De Mendiola Ramirez,Giuliana; Straub,Stephane; Yoong,Pui ShenBahasa (Indonesian)Disclosed
Location is one of the main characteristics households consider when buying a property or deciding where to live, since it determines accessibility to employment subcenters and public transport stations.
... See More + Using a geographically-referenced data set on new housing developments, this paper estimates how households value accessibility in Mexico City. The results are shown considering road accessibility to formal employment subcenters (private accessibility) and distance to the main public transport stations in the city (public accessibility). The results suggest that accessibility to employment subcenters is considered an amenity for households, while being closer to a Metro station is perceived as a dis-amenity. Moreover, households located in neighborhoods with a greater proportion of informal workers and lower education levels give a lower value to private accessibility than households located in neighborhoods with a lower proportion of informal workers or in high-educated neighborhoods. These results are evidence of the existence of spatial segregation in the city, where disadvantaged households are segregated not only because of their economic conditions, but also because they are located farther away from employment opportunities.
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Policy Research Working Paper WPS8383 MAR 27, 2018
Economic development is concentrated in a few places. Only 1.5 percent of the world’s land is home to half of its production. Violence and economic isolation are closely linked.
... See More + Violence increases transactions costs, including through a weakening of institutions and the destruction of infrastructure, and thus the economic distance to markets. Lags in economic and social development are thus as much a consequence of violence as factors that contribute to it. The World Bank’s World Development Reports (WDR) on economic geography and conflict, security, and development provide policy frameworks for addressing development challenges in lagging and violent areas, respectively. This WDR provides a framework focused on restoring confidence and transforming institutions to deliver citizen security, justice, and jobs. Bringing these dimensions into account for policy design, and understanding the social and political stresses on lagging areas, can help improve stability and reduce disparities. This framework can provide a roadmap to bring development to lagging areas, and ensure that all lands are safe lands where people can prosper.
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Working Paper 119487 MAY 01, 2017
Baare,Anton Karel George; Damboeck,Johanna; D'Aoust,Olivia Severine; De Brular,Laura Lewis; Lozano Gracia,Nancy; Kostner,Markus; Lall,Somik V.; Roberts,Andrew JamesDisclosed
Today, more than half of Haiti’s population calls cities and towns their home, in a major shift from the 1950s when around 90 percent of Haitians lived in the countryside.
... See More + Urbanization is usually paired with economic growth, increased productivity, and higher living standards, but in Haiti it has taken a different course. Potential benefits have been overshadowed by immense challenges, all of which require immediate action. To better understand the factors that constrain the sustainable and inclusive development of Haitian cities, this Urbanization Review organizes the challenges along three dimensions of urban development namely planning, connecting, and financing. Planning reviews the challenges in supporting resilient growth to create economically vibrant, environmentally sustainable, and livable cities. Connecting focuses on the obstacles of physically linking people to jobs and businesses to markets, while financing focuses on identifying the key capital, governance, and institutional constraints that are hurdles to successful planning and connecting.
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Today, more than half of Haiti’s population calls cities and towns their home, in a major shift from the 1950s when around 90 percent of Haitians lived in the countryside.
... See More + Urbanization is usually paired with economic growth, increased productivity, and higher living standards, but in Haiti it has taken a different course. Potential benefits have been overshadowed by immense challenges, all of which require immediate action. To better understand the factors that constrain the sustainable and inclusive development of Haitian cities, this Urbanization Review organizes the challenges along three dimensions of urban development namely planning, connecting, and financing. Planning reviews the challenges in supporting resilient growth to create economically vibrant, environmentally sustainable, and livable cities. Connecting focuses on the obstacles of physically linking people to jobs and businesses to markets, while financing focuses on identifying the key capital, governance, and institutional constraints that are hurdles to successful planning and connecting.
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Today, more than half of Haiti’s population calls cities and towns their home, in a major shift from the 1950s when around 90 percent of Haitians lived in the countryside.
... See More + Urbanization is usually paired with economic growth, increased productivity, and higher living standards, but in Haiti it has taken a different course. Potential benefits have been overshadowed by immense challenges, all of which require immediate action. To better understand the factors that constrain the sustainable and inclusive development of Haitian cities, this Urbanization Review organizes the challenges along three dimensions of urban development namely planning, connecting, and financing. Planning reviews the challenges in supporting resilient growth to create economically vibrant, environmentally sustainable, and livable cities. Connecting focuses on the obstacles of physically linking people to jobs and businesses to markets, while financing focuses on identifying the key capital, governance, and institutional constraints that are hurdles to successful planning and connecting.
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Today, more than half of Haiti’s population calls cities and towns their home, in a major shift from the 1950s when around 90 percent of Haitians lived in the countryside.
... See More + Urbanization is usually paired with economic growth, increased productivity, and higher living standards, but in Haiti it has taken a different course. Potential benefits have been overshadowed by immense challenges, all of which require immediate action. To better understand the factors that constrain the sustainable and inclusive development of Haitian cities, this Urbanization Review organizes the challenges along three dimensions of urban development namely planning, connecting, and financing. Planning reviews the challenges in supporting resilient growth to create economically vibrant, environmentally sustainable, and livable cities. Connecting focuses on the obstacles of physically linking people to jobs and businesses to markets, while financing focuses on identifying the key capital, governance, and institutional constraints that are hurdles to successful planning and connecting.
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This paper illustrates how the capabilities of GIS and satellite imagery can be harnessed to explore and better understand the urban form of several large African cities (Addis Ababa, Nairobi, Kigali, Dar es Salaam, and Dakar).
... See More + To allow for comparability across very diverse cities, this work looks at the above mentioned cities through the lens of several spatial indicators and relies heavily on data derived from satellite imagery. First, it focuses on understanding the distribution of population across the city, and more specifically how the variations in population density could be linked to transportation. Second, it takes a closer look at the land cover in each city using a semi-automated texture based land cover classification that identifies neighborhoods that appear more regular or irregularly planned. Lastly, for the higher resolution images, this work studies the changes in the land cover classes as one moves from the city core to the periphery. This work also explored the classification of slightly coarser resolution imagery which allowed analysis of a broader number of cities, sixteen, provided the lower cost.
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Policy Research Working Paper WPS7911 DEC 09, 2016
Central America is undergoing an important transition, with urban populations increasing at accelerated speeds, bringing pressing challenges as well as opportunities to boost sustained, inclusive and resilient growth. current rates of urbanization, the region’s urban population will double in size by 2050, welcoming over 25 million new urban dwellers, calling for better infrastructure, higher coverage and quality of urban services and greater employment opportunities.
... See More + As larger numbers of people concentrate in urban areas, Central American governments at the national and local levels face both opportunities and challenges to ensure the prosperity of their country’s present and future generations.The region’s main development challenges are linked to the lack of social inclusion, vulnerability to natural disasters, and the lack of economic opportunities and competitiveness.Due to rapid urbanization in the region, Central American cities increasingly concentrate these development challenges.The region’s development challenges can be addressed in cities by focusing on the economic opportunities they offer.The Central America Urbanization Review provides a better understanding of the trends and implications of urbanization, and the actions that central and local governments can take to reap the intended benefits of this transformation. The report makes recommendations on how urban policies can contribute to addressing the main identified development challenges—lack of social inclusion, high vulnerability to natural disasters, and lack of economic opportunities and competitiveness. Specifically, the report focuses on four priority areas for Central American cities—institutions for city management, access to adequate and well-located housing, resilience to natural disasters, and competitiveness through local economic development.This Executive Summary summarizes the main messages developed throughout the Urbanization Review, which includes one diagnostic chapter and four sectoral chapters: Chapter 1, How Urbanization is Transforming Central America offers a diagnostic of present and future urbanization trends, including an overview on the speed and spread of urbanization, the characteristics of the system of Central American cities, and the concentration of economic activity in cities. It also introduces economic and social challenges facing cities, which will be explored in more detail in the four remaining sectoral chapters.Chapter 2, Managing Cities and Agglomerations: Strengthening Institutions for Effective Planning and Service Delivery highlights the key role of local governments in effective city management to ensure quality service delivery, as well as coordinated planning with the national government for a coherent and sustainable development of urban areas. Chapter 3, Making Cities Inclusive by Improving Access to Adequate and Well-Located Housing discusses the constraints in the housing sector, which policymakers need to address in order to drive a more efficient, inclusive and sustainable model of housing, integrated with urban development. Chapter 4, Making Cities Resilient to Reduce Central America’s Vulnerability to Natural Disasters advocates building resilient cities to reduce the long-term impact of natural disasters on the population and economy.Chapter 5, Making Cities More Competitive to Create More and Better Jobs discusses the potential for LED in raising local and country-level competitiveness, contribute to fostering macroeconomic stability, and strengthening private sector development. It applies the World Bank’s global framework on competitive cities to the Central American context.
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This main report is about Africa that is rapidly urbanizing and will lead the world’s urban growth in the coming decades. Currently, Africa is the least‐urbanized continent, accommodating 11.3 percent of the world’s urban population, and the Sub‐Saharan region is the continent’s least‐urbanized area.
... See More + However, the region’s cities are expanding rapidly, by 2050; Africa’s urban population is projected to reach 1.2 billion, with an urbanization rate of 58 percent (UN‐HABITAT 2014). With this rate of growth, Africa will overtake Asia as the world’s most rapidly urbanizing region by 2025 (UN 2014). Although the nature and pace of urbanization varies among countries, with over a quarter of the world’s fastest growing cities, Africa is undergoing a massive urban transition. Globally, cities are major drivers of economic growth, and the quality and location of housing has long-term consequences for inclusive growth. However, in Sub-Saharan Africa, urbanization is not accompanied by the level of per-capita economic growth or housing investment that is observed elsewhere in global trends. Incomes in Sub‐Saharan Africa (SSA) have not kept pace with urbanization, which, in many African countries, has not necessarily been accompanied by industrial growth and the structural transformation as has occurred in other regions. Housing stocks, along with investment and employment in related construction and finance industries, constitute a major component of national economic wealth. The key challenge for African cities, however, has been the comparatively low growth in per‐capita income, which limits the resources that households have to consume or invest in housing. At the same time across the region, the formal channels through which quality housing is produced and financed face major constraints that limit access to a large share of urban households. Hence, the formal housing sector is only a small part of the economy because the construction and finance services have very little effective demand, evidenced by the lack of formal investment in housing across the region. Recent studies have found that in Africa, formal housing investment (in national current accounts data) lags behind urbanization by nine years (Dasgupta et al. 2014). Furthermore, the capital investment in infrastructure needed to handle rapid urbanization typically happens (if at all) after housing has already been built, often in informal settlements.
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This main report is about Africa that is rapidly urbanizing and will lead the world’s urban growth in the coming decades. Currently, Africa is the least‐urbanized continent, accommodating 11.3 percent of the world’s urban population, and the Sub‐Saharan region is the continent’s least‐urbanized area.
... See More + However, the region’s cities are expanding rapidly, by 2050; Africa’s urban population is projected to reach 1.2 billion, with an urbanization rate of 58 percent (UN‐HABITAT 2014). With this rate of growth, Africa will overtake Asia as the world’s most rapidly urbanizing region by 2025 (UN 2014). Although the nature and pace of urbanization varies among countries, with over a quarter of the world’s fastest growing cities, Africa is undergoing a massive urban transition. Globally, cities are major drivers of economic growth, and the quality and location of housing has long-term consequences for inclusive growth. However, in Sub-Saharan Africa, urbanization is not accompanied by the level of per-capita economic growth or housing investment that is observed elsewhere in global trends. Incomes in Sub‐Saharan Africa (SSA) have not kept pace with urbanization, which, in many African countries, has not necessarily been accompanied by industrial growth and the structural transformation as has occurred in other regions. Housing stocks, along with investment and employment in related construction and finance industries, constitute a major component of national economic wealth. The key challenge for African cities, however, has been the comparatively low growth in per‐capita income, which limits the resources that households have to consume or invest in housing. At the same time across the region, the formal channels through which quality housing is produced and financed face major constraints that limit access to a large share of urban households. Hence, the formal housing sector is only a small part of the economy because the construction and finance services have very little effective demand, evidenced by the lack of formal investment in housing across the region. Recent studies have found that in Africa, formal housing investment (in national current accounts data) lags behind urbanization by nine years (Dasgupta et al. 2014). Furthermore, the capital investment in infrastructure needed to handle rapid urbanization typically happens (if at all) after housing has already been built, often in informal settlements.
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Big data can sound remote and lacking a human dimension, with few obvious links to development and impacting the lives of the poor. Concepts such as anti-poverty targeting, market access or rural electrification seem far more relevant – and easier to grasp.
... See More + And yet some of today’s most groundbreaking initiatives in these areas rely on big data. This publication profiles these and more, showing how data on an unprecedented scale has the potential to improve lives in unprecedented ways. The featured case stories illustrate the diverse range of big data applications in development. For the World Bank, with twin goals of ending extreme poverty and boosting shared prosperity, big data is big news – and this is just the beginning. The Big Data program brings togetherdata scientists, social scientists and sector specialists in a work program with two main objectives: To accelerate organizational capabilities in big data analytics for use in research and operations – to help the World Bank Group (WBG) better work towards ending extreme poverty and boosting shared prosperity. To position WBG as a leader in the use of big data solutions in development. The program aims to scale early pilots into projects that solve significant development challenges, and to establish best practices for using big data analytics to steer evidence-driven development. Launched in September 2014, the Big Data Innovation Challenge has been key in encouraging big data approaches. Exceeding all expectations, it attracted 131 innovative proposals and awarded 14 with funding and expertise to enable big data analytics in their projects. The winning initiatives cover an exciting range, from using satellite imagery to improve poverty mapping, to mining social media data to understand political sentiment, or cellphone data to increase the use of banking services. Others promote traffic flows or accountable road building, anticipate crop yields, predict violent crime and promote registration of land rights. This publication profiles 16 extraordinary initiatives from the Challenge winning teams and finalists. The case stories examine the application of big data analytics and how it can help achieve project goals.
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Africa is the globe’s least-urbanized continent, accommodating 11.3 percent of the world’s urban population, and the Sub-Saharan region is the continent’s least-urbanized area.
... See More + Nonetheless, the region’s cities are expanding rapidly. Globally, cities are major drivers of economic growth, and the quality and location of housing has long term consequences for inclusive growth. However, in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), urbanization is not accompanied by the level of per-capita economic growth or housing investment that is observed elsewhere in global trends. Although the housing sector in Africa is highly heterogeneous with substantial differences between countries, some consistent patterns emerge as a function of overall poorly functioning housing markets. The majority of housing investment in most African countries comes from government debt or domestic savings rather than from international capital markets as is the case in developed economies. As a result, the existing housing stock in SSA remains overcrowded and of limited quality, and there is typically a backlog of housing. As a result of low incomes and high costs of formal housing, the informal delivery of housing as a less expensive alternative has been the norm in SSA, while formality is the exception. In general, housing shortfalls can be calculated based on three different qualities: (i) the numerical shortfall in dwellings (deficit); (ii) the qualitative shortfall in physical conditions (obsolescence or substandard construction with non-durable building material); and (iii) the space shortfall within dwellings (overcrowding). Under this approach, total housing stock is an aggregate of different shelter types (new units and existing units) and tenure arrangements (rental versus ownership for example). These approaches rely on estimates of new household formation and an ideal occupancy ratio per dwelling unit, which may not reflect typical conditions. The challenge for policy makers is to improve housing delivery value chains in a way that allows residents to steadily transition toward more formal housing conditions. At the same time, improvements to formal sector value chains can reduce the cost of construction and broaden access to finance for consumers and developers.
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