Why is understanding cities important? The world is increasingly urban, with 55% of the world’s population living in cities. DFID does a lot of programming in cities, promoting economic growth, better governance and social inclusion. However no two cities are alike, and the hugely varied socio-economic pressures and opportunities cities place on the poor. This means that urban poverty differs greatly from rural poverty, and poverty reduction relies on a complex understanding of the highly interdependent multiple dimensions of urban poverty – which is turn requires varied programmatic solutions.
This paper sets out critical analysis needed on:
- Urban spatial structure and its impact on socio-economic dynamics
- Socio-economic trends and their variation across city typologies
- Risk and resilience issues in city and how critical management of long term risks is to long term programming success
- An overview of multi-dimensional poverty, and what this means for programs
For each area the paper sets out:
- Why this is important
- What you need to know
- What data you can use
- How this affects programming
