Urban development research
id21 is the free development research reporting service, bringing you UK-sourced research on developing countries

Financing urban development
Urban areas are expand rapidly. A prevailing problem is how to finance the services and infrastructure to acompany this growth, particularly for poor urban residents. A mix of government, non-government, community and private efforts are necessary, as well as policies to ensure that contracts for providing these facilities are transparent.

Providing support to urban landless and homeless people
Urban Poor Funds are an institutional innovation. They support federations of savings groups formed by homeless people or residents of informal settlements. They are changing low-income households' relations with government agencies, enabling legal solutions to housing problems, promoting cohesion, and providing access to public infrastructure and services.

Iran's public land bank enables low-income housing provision
The World Bank promotes a 'market-enabling' approach to housing and urban policy in developing countries. Essentially it recommends governments stop providing housing land directly and instead promote private market activity. However, this advice is widely criticised as inappropriate for some conditions developing countries face.

Local organisations help improve urban slums in Argentina
Poor people in many Latin American cities live in bad conditions. In Argentina, a local microcredit programme is addressing the needs of informal, low-income settlement residents in Buenos Aires.

Reforming Wakfs in Kenya and Tanzania
In East Africa, Islamic charitable trusts or Wakfs have a long history of helping to fund social projects. Wakf properties also provide affordable housing and premises for business and community activities. However, reforms will be necessary if Wakfs are to meet the challenges of the twenty-first century.

Fighting corruption in infrastructure delivery in Nigeria
In 2003, the Nigerian government set up the Budget Monitoring and Price Intelligence Unit (BMPIU) to halt corruption and incompetence in public procurement and service delivery. Stakeholders, including contractors, suppliers and end-users, have had diverse reactions to the initiative. How has it performed and what are its strengths and weaknesses?

Previous themes from id21 urban development

The urbanisation of poverty

Access to regular and safe water supplies

Addressing homelessness in cities