Main themes and issues discussed at research roundtables Urban Research Symposium December 17

1. Main themes and issues discussed at research roundtables Urban Research Symposium December 17

2. Highlights of discussions emerging from 8 roundtable discussions on: Planning Governance Finance Land Housing and urban services Poverty assessment / diagnostics Incomes and employment Health, safety and security

3. PLANNING • In face of 2 bn people added to urban areas, planning is marginalized. Need to respond to economic and political realities, be more strategic. How to make planning decisions more effective—what information is needed to convince decision-makers, make planning relevant to political process. • Optimal balance between minimalist (guided) and data-intensive (directive—e.g., simulation/modeling scenarios, cost-benefit implications). Role for regulation as planning tool. • Multi-stakeholder involvement—demand-responsive planning • ****

4. Planning, cont…. • Capacity building for planning—educating the planners as well as the clients/users • Data requirements for planning. Identify cost-effective strategies for data collection and dissemination • Issues: Implementation of plans (management) • Priorities: disaster risk management; land use management • Chronicle innovative best practice in planning

5. GOVERNANCE • In urban context, characterized by diversity and density of interactions among groups. • Many “invisible” power relations (their logic and incentives) need to be understood before external intervention changes roles. • Decentralization/devolution—often rhetoric not reality, imposed without preparation or understanding of existing situation. Incentives for CG to share fiscal authority not evident. Need for effective demand for accountable local govt. • Decentralization seen as often externally-driven; needs to be based on true democratization; may require constitutional-level reforms to protect rights of local level. • Inequalities of power relations at local level don’t change just with formal decentralization or with voting. Even elected regimes need constant citizen input and engagement for legitimate decisions; access to information, free press to hold elected officials accountable. ****

6. Governance, cont…. • Inclusive governance requires building capacity of citizenry. Indigenous governance structures and power relations of citizens’ groups—these not necessarily equitable and benign • Local govts lack prestige and capacity compared to central govt (but are not necessarily more corrupt). Different problems at different scales (megacities/metropolis with multiple competing jurisdictions, smaller cities, provincial level). • What contributions can local govts make to improvement of national policy, e.g. associations of local govts influence national level • How to develop public entrepreneurship • Some countries lack a school of government, and need forums for promoting institutional innovations.

7. FINANCE • (Also a point in Governance discussion: before raise taxes, prove that you can improve services!) • Two way relationship with finance and planning/regulation--impact of land policy and regulation on local finance. • Impacts of decentralization on local finance—are more funds really flowing to LGs? More spending at local level? • How actually to get people to finance services, get “buy-in” for taxation and user charges—improve services, innovation in practices • Bridging diversity of experiences (leaders and laggards) as reform progresses—and sharing international experience • How to replace revenues from reducing “noxious taxes” such as high transaction tax rates or octroi/cess, more empirical work on revenue impacts of tax rate reductions. • Comparative Analysis needed—Case studies to put context around financial statistics.

8. LAND • I. Scaling-up urban upgrading: • Understanding the processes that lead to slum formation and development • Improve current urban upgrading models taking into account: i) household contribution to projects and cost recovery; ii) long term funding of projects; iii) relationship with citywide systems; iv) institutional arrangements for programming, planning and implementing projects. • ***

9. Land, cont…. • II. Preventing the formation of slums: • Understanding the performance of citywide land markets in developing countries • Improve current knowledge on facilitating access of the poor to land, taking into account the role of: • Land taxation • Land regulation • Governmental budget programs • Property rights

10. HOUSING (and URBAN SERVICES) • Many topics of research discussed but agreement on one -- high priority, under-researched: • Effective housing subsidies • Mode of learning about housing research: need an online network among researchers where can share ideas and information

11. POVERTY ASSESSMENT • Research questions: • Need to work on definition/criteria for measuring urban poverty • Dynamics of poverty over time, e.g. how migrants fare • Process questions: • Data are weak, but research could “mine” existing data further. Comparative (cross-country, cross-city) databases that do exist have quality problems. Need to work with govts to give local policy makers access to data that are available. • Building local capacity for analyzing urban poverty, and engage local centers of capacity • Exchanges of information on urban poverty.

12. EMPLOYMENT and INCOMES • 1.) How to generate jobs? (“Bringing jobs to people”) • Government's role in employment generation programs, versus helping to increase productivity that leads to more sustainable increased employment. • Seeing the informal sector as a resource that should be encouraged to thrive and create jobs, rather than as just an untapped source of revenue. What research is required to prove this point to urban decision makers? • Role of infrastructure, including home based infrastructure, in income generation. • Remittances as a source of capital for investment in job/income generating activities • ****

13. Employment and Jobs, cont. • 2) How do people find/get access to jobs? (“Bringing people to jobs.”) • Role of spatial structure / spatial mismatch (segregation, transport, etc.). Critical importance of adopting and “selling” urban transport strategies that meet needs of all citizens and are sustainable (efficient public transport in face of political pressure for motorization). • What can governments do to help people acquire skills that are necessary in a dynamic urban economy? • Role of social networks in finding employment (esp. in informal sector and informal settlements where poor are illiterate). Role of "mafias" in allocating jobs / facilitating job search. Is that always a bad thing, or are they simply providing a service that the government is not offering? (Same thing in housing or service provision). • Need for sub-city data, and surveys that can capture “fuzzy” information such as role of social networks. • Best Practices in employment policies/programs

14. URBAN HEALTH, SAFETY and SECURITY • Research on connections between city planning, policy norms and factors affecting health • Health impacts of good solid waste management (demonstrating the need for action)—also impacts on mitigating disaster risk • How to do “social marketing” (public communication) of health hazards and mitigation measures—E.g., Are people sufficiently aware of escape strategies regarding natural disasters. Why households don’t want to relocate from unhealthful or hazardous locations, even after disasters • Comparative research on lessons learned from post-disaster reconstruction • How do high crime levels and insecurity risks affect development operations, e.g of the Bank

15. OVERARCHING PRIORITIES AND THEMES: • More than policy-relevancy and practicality--Need for urban research to help make the case for action and policy reform—to convince policy makers and the public. Communicate knowledge in compelling ways. • Bridge gap between research and practice—use more effectively the research that is already done. Focus on what “the numbers” should mean to practitioners. • Not just numbers but “morphology” of urban —look at factors of spatial form, of housing, land patterns, city form to understand urban dynamics

16. Cross-cutting demands expressed for: • Better comparative data; • Building local capacity among users of research • Working with local centers of knowledge • Sharing of information on best practices and other knowledge, e.g. through electronic networks, websites, etc.