Almost 75 percent of the population in the Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) region lives in cities. The rapid rate of urbanization has created economic opportunities for millions of people, but it also brings about great challenges for LAC governments to provide basic services, guarantee suitable levels of quality of life, promote employment, and protect the environment.

Aside from the great metropolises, there are about five hundred cities with less than two million inhabitants whose economies and populations are growing at a rapid pace. These “emerging cities” have the opportunity to grow sustainably, but to do so they must find the most effective ways to offer public services, guarantee security, protect the environment, wisely use natural resources, and adapt to the consequences of climate change. Also, they each need a fiscal management strategy that allows for the financing of this type of growth. To support LAC cities to achieve these goals, the Bank is introducing a new platform called “Sustainable Emerging Cities”.

The Initiative

The initiative targets three critical areas: environmental sustainability, including challenges that relate to climate change; urban development, including urban growth, transport, competitiveness, and security; and fiscal sustainability. The Bank will support LAC cities to evaluate their individual situations in these areas in comparison to those of other similar sized cities, and to identify critical problems and courses of action to prepare them for a sustainable future. The platform focuses primarily on the midsize cities that are better positioned to efficiently plan for this growth and adapt themselves to the challenges ahead.

EMERGING AND SUSTAINABLE CITIES DIMENSIONS:

• ENVIRONMENT AND CLIMATE CHANGE. The focus will be on the management of this dimension and will include programs to reduce air and water pollution, control solid waste disposal, promote energy efficiency, improve disaster prevention procedures, and implement measures to adapt to climate change effects.
• URBAN DEVELOPMENT. The objective will be to examine the design of the city and its capacity to manage growth through effective planning and sensible land use. This will include the development of integrated solutions to achieve an equal distribution of public services, environmentally friendly and efficient urban transport, increased economic competitiveness, and improved citizen security.
• FISCAL SUSTAINABILITY. The goal will be to strengthen local governments’ abilities to prioritize and finance investments, build and maintain social and urban services, control expenses, and make transparent decisions.