Publication

The governance challenges administering complex urban areas are enormous and becoming frequent as urban demographic shifts have outpaced capacities for local government institutions to manage. This paper examines the economic significance and paradoxes of urbanization, demographic dynamics, importance of poverty and inequality, climate change, policy and governance challenges, and impacts of natural disasters. It then turns to the causes and triggers of urban conflict, violence, insecurity, and disorder. It concludes by examining how development assistance has addressed these issues and how it could be more effective with a focus on the local area.