CHAPTER 3

• nited Nations. 2006a. Implementation of the Outcome of the United Nations Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat II) and Strengthening of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat): Report of the Secretary General (A/61/262), para. 8. New York: United Nations.



• This chapter draws heavily on: McGranahan, G., D. Mitlin, and D. Satterthwaite. 2006. “Land and Services for the Urban Poor in Urbanizing Countries.” Draft paper prepared for this Report; Tacoli, C., G. McGranahan, and D. Satterthwaite. 2006. “Urbanization, Poverty and Inequity: Is Rural-urban Migration a Poverty Problem, or Part of the Solution?” Draft paper prepared for this Report; and Martine, G. 2006. “Poverty, Space and Urban Growth.” Draft paper prepared for this Report.



• “There is no economic development without urbanization. Attempts to curb urbanization may have an adverse effect on economic development.” — Tannerfeldt, G., and P. Ljung. 2006. More Urban, Less Poor: an Introduction to Urban Development and Management, p. 29. London: Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency and Earthscan.



• The World Bank. 2000. Cities in Transition: World Bank Urban and Local Government Strategy, pp. 36-37. Washington, D.C.: The World Bank.



• UN-Habitat. 2006. State of the World’s Cities 2006/7: The Millennium Development Goals and Urban Sustainability, p. 16. London: Earthscan.



• In 1996, 51 per cent of developing countries had policies to lower migration to urban agglomerations; this proportion rose to 73 per cent in 2005. See: United Nations. 2006b. World Population Policies 2005 (ST/ESA/SER.A/254). New York: Population Division, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, United Nations.



• UN Millennium Project. 2005. Investing in Development: A Practical Plan to Achieve the Millennium Development Goals, p. xix. Report to the UN Secretary-General. London and Sterling, Virginia: Earthscan.



• Carolini, G. 2006. “Community Organizations of the Urban Poor: Realizing the MDGs and Planning for Urban Population Growth,” p. 1. Draft paper prepared for this Report.



• It is worth noting that many of the grass-roots organizations have been formed by poor urban women and have evolved to provide the foundation for large urban social movements.



• In several instances, this Report alludes to the anti-urban bias of policymakers. This may cause some confusion for those familiar with the “urban bias” concept used by some economists to try to explain why rural areas remained poor. The term “anti-urban bias” is used here as short-hand simply to refer to the opposition of planners and policymakers to the demographic growth of cities and the many ways in which they try to prevent or retard it. Hence, the two concepts are not related or direct opposites.



• du Plessis, J. 2005. “The Growing Problem of Forced Evictions and the Crucial Importance of Community-based, Locally Appropriate Alternatives.” Environment and Urbanization 17(1): 123-134.



• See: Montgomery, M. R., et al., Panel on Urban Dynamics, National Research Council (eds.). 2003. Cities Transformed: Demographic Change and Its Implications in the Developing World, pp. 176-177. Washington, D.C.: National Academies Press; and Rodriguez and Martine 2006, pp. 10-11.



• The World Bank 2000, p. 2.



• This is the case, for instance, of Nepal. Only 17 per cent of the country’s 28 million population lives in urban areas. However, the combined forces of poverty and political instability swell the numbers of rural to urban migrants, and present a dire situation in urban slums. Nepal has been urbanizing very rapidly, at an average annual rate of 6.65 per cent in the intercensal period 1991-2001. Most of the increase has come from migration, intensified by an 11-year conflict, especially to the southern Terai region and to the slums of Kathmandu. There is no official record of the numbers of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the country, but estimates range from 200,000 to 500,000. (Sources: UNFPA-Nepal Country Office. December 2006. Personal communication; and spreadsheets received from the United Nations Population Division.)



• “The most constructive way of looking at the productive interlinkages among urban and rural areas may be as a virtuous circle, whereby access to (urban) markets and services for non-farm production stimulates agricultural productivity and rural incomes, which in turn generate demand and labour supply for more such goods and services. The circle provides multiple entry points, and opportunities should be seized where they appear.” — Kessides, C. 2006. The Urban Transition in Sub-Saharan Africa: Implications for Economic Growth and Poverty Reduction, p. xvii. Africa Region Working Paper Series. No. 97. Washington, D. C.: Cities Alliance.



• Angel, S., S. C. Sheppard, and D. L. Civco. 2005. The Dynamics of Global Urban Expansion, p. 91. Washington, D.C.: Transport and Urban Development Department, the World Bank.



• Hardoy, J. E., D. Mitlin, and D. Satterthwaite. 1992. Environmental Problems in Third World Cities, p. 34. London: Earthscan Publications.



• United Nations. 1995. Population and Development, vol. 1: Programme of Action adopted at the International Conference on Population and Development: Cairo: 5-13 September 1994, Section 9.1. New York: Department of Economic and Social Information and Policy Analysis, United Nations.



• Thus, the point has been made that Target 11 of the MDGs—to improve the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers by 2020—has generally been perceived as relatively easy to achieve, unlike some of the other MDG targets. This optimism, in addition to an uncharacteristically low target, apparently “. . . reflects an increasing acknowledgement and documentation of the successful improvements made through participatory and locally-led projects in slums”. — Carolini 2006, p. 1.



• Tannerfeldt and Ljung 2006, p. 97.



• In developing countries, it is common for street vendors to sell individual cigarettes at a higher price than their unit price if sold by the pack. Poor people pay more per unit used of water, fuel and other necessities because they buy only small quantities. Similarly, fitting the size of plots to the buying power of the poor usually results in higher prices per square metre. See: Smolka, M., and A. Larangeira. 2006. “Informality and Poverty in Latin American Urban Policy.” Draft paper prepared for this Report.



• United Nations. 26 October 2006. “Habitat Chief Tells Second Committee of Looming Need for Pro-poor Mortgage Financing as Poverty Threatens Living Standards in World’s Cities” (GA/EF/3160), pp. 3-4. Press release. New York: United Nations.



• “In many countries, the planning horizons of politicians are too short to engage in longer-term planning and preparation for orderly urban expansion.”— Angel, Sheppard, and Civco 2005, p. 101.



• It is often wrongly assumed that most of the urban poor and those in illegal settlements are rural migrants, and thus they are denied the right to vote.



• For a discussion of how such processes have operated in Brasilia, see, for instance: Acioly, Jr., C. C. 1994. “Incremental Land Development in Brasilia: Can the Urban Poor Escape from Suburbanization?” Third World Planning Review 16(3): 243-261; and Aubertin, C. 1992. “Le droit au logement: enjeu démocratique ou instrument du clientélisme: L’exemple de Brasilia: District federal.” Cahiers des Sciences Humaines 28(3): 461-479.



• In this sense, an exceptional effort to regulate and sanitize land markets is currently going on in Spain, where land records going back seven years are being pored over and a number of powerful people are being indicted for alleged improprieties and irregularities in land transactions. (See: “Dos nuevos arrestados en la Operación Malaya.” 6 February 2007. El Pais. Website:http://www.elpais.com/articulo/espana/nuevos/arrestados/Operacion/Malaya
  /elpepuesp/20070206elpepunac_7/Tes, accessed 6 February 2007.) It coincides with a civil movement aimed at promoting affordable housing for all. This type of initiative would have to be implemented on a wide scale in developing countries as part of a strategy to regulate land markets.



• United Nations 2006a, p. 5.



• Angel, Sheppard, and Civco 2005.



• Ibid., p. 102.