Urban Green Spaces (UGS) contribute to the functioning of a city´s urban (eco)system. With the rapid urban expansion and the emergence of new slums, Patrick Brandful Cobbinah and Michael Osei Asibey call to include the residents in protecting UGS.
Access to housing finance is an enormous challenge in Egyptian cities. Raed Fares and Safa Ashoub portray the approach by Habitat for Humanity Egypt: a microfinancing programme that also offers technical assistance and ensures to include local communities.
The municipality of Phnom Penh does not live up to its responsibility to provide affordable housing for all, says Ronan Kemp from Sahmakum Teang Tnaut Organization - A Cambodian Urban NGO.
Creating liveable, affordable cities requires significant public investments. How to finance them? The answer may lie in land value capture. This financing tool allows municipalities to recover the land value gains that result from public action such as zoning changes or investment in public infrastructure, to invest them back into the city. Sena Segbedzi, OECD Champion Mayors for Inclusive Growth Initiative, shares stories of success from all over the world.
Changing discourses have characterised New Delhi's housing policy over time. Piyush Tiwari and Jyoti Shukla outline developments and call onto the public and private housing institutions to provide equal access to decent and affordable housing.
The world today needs solutions, to eradicate poverty in a holistic and sustainable manner. They lie in better technology, affordable finance, and induced market linkages. All these are factors that can be incentivised through city governments, argue Huda Jaffer and Nirmita Chandrashekar, emphasising that the poor should be part of the solution and not the problem.
Access to affordable and clean water cannot be taken for granted in Nairobi's neighbourhood of Mathare. Gacheke Gachihi outlines the structural changes needed to guarantee affordable water for all.
Public transport should be a priority of urban planning that focuses on affordable cities for all, argues Christopher Dekki.
