International workshop Venice - March 11-12 1999 Concepts and Paradigms of Urban Management in the Context of Developing Countries
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Christine Kessides (Urban Development Division, Transportation, Water and Urban Development Department, The World Bank, Washington, D.C.)

"Urban and Local Goverment Strategy, a brief summary"

I would be willing to give a brief summary presentation to a workshop session, on the World Bank's "Urban and Local Government Strategy". This is an ongoing exercise that has drawn on many inputs from various groups and will be presented to the World Bank's Executive Board of Directors by June of this year; comments and inputs from this audience would be very timely.
This strategy is an attempt to sharpen the World Bank's response to the emerging challenges in the developing world stemming from the major trends of urban population growth, globalization, decentralization and reforms in the role of government. Sustainable urban development is critical to national development priorities, in particular concerning poverty reduction and sustainable growth. Four elements of sustainable urban development are discussed which constitute the "vision" for the strategy: i) "competitiveness" and productivity of cities and towns; ii) "livability", based on quality of life improvements for urban residents, most especially the poor, iii) good governance and management, and iv) sustainable finance and "bankability" of cities.
The strategy reviews the World Bank's experience in lending, policy work and technical assistance directed towards these outcomes and identifies improvements to enhance impact.

The main recommendations of the strategy include four new emphases of the Bank's urban work: i) national urban strategy development, to identify important reforms of intergovernmental policy frameworks and rural-urban synergies, ii) city development strategies, as participatory exercises for urban stakeholders to define a holistic, long-term vision for their city, iii) scaling-up of programs to provide services to the poor, such as through "slum upgrading", and iv) enhanced capacity-building, including through use of intermediary arrangements to "wholesale" training and sharing of experience, such as through professional associations and networks of city officials. Further improvements in the World Bank's major urban lending instruments are also outlined, and a plea is made for the Bank to resume significant support for urban research and country sector work.

Implementing the strategy will require greater coherence of assistance to cities and local governments across the Bank's own departments, and stronger external partnerships. As a particular vehicle for implementing the strategy, a new "Cities Initiative" has recently been set up by UNCHS/Habitat and the World Bank as an umbrella arrangement to mobilize broad donor support for city development strategies and scaled-up urban upgrading programs.