Joining Forces to Face Growing Challenges of Megacities
Within a generation, the number of city dwellers worldwide is estimated to double – increasing by more than 2 billion people and straining megacities with increasing crime, traffic accidents, air pollution, energy consumption and infrastructure demands.
Especially during the current global economic downturn and financial crisis, the urban poor are hit the hardest.
While addressing the many challenges surrounding megacities, the World Bank has formed a knowledge-sharing partnership with the University of Southern California.
A mother bathes her baby in a slum of Ho Chi Min City, Vietnam. Slums are expected to continue growing, meaning more people will face crowded living conditions without basic infrastructure like sewage, sanitation and clean water.
February 18, 2009 — With much of the developing world’s population continuing to rapidly relocate from rural settings to cities, new thinking and practices are surfacing about how to handle the strains caused by the growing urban centers known as megacities. Within a generation, the number of city dwellers worldwide is estimated to double – increasing by more than 2 billion people. The urban transition may offer people opportunities to improve their quality of life, but only if cities are well-managed by local and national policies – raising the question: How can megacities make it work?
While addressing the multiple challenges surrounding this question, the World Bank has formed a partnership with the University of Southern California. Primarily meant as a knowledge-sharing relationship, experts in urban and development issues at both institutions have committed to link unique sets of scholarly research and knowledge networks. The idea is to connect two distinctly different institutions that still share many similar goals. The World Bank and USC both work, for example, to create and apply knowledge for social benefits, the university’s Vice Provost for Globalization Adam Powell .
Powell and the Dean of USC’s School of Policy, Planning, and Development, Jack Knott , along with others representing USC visited the World Bank headquarters in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 4, 2009 to kick off the partnership with a day of discussion and the signing of a memorandum of understanding. The ensuing discussion sessions covered major issues that face large towns and cities. Population centers with more than 10 million people, megacities are faced with increasing crime, traffic accidents, air pollution, energy consumption, infrastructure demands, and risk of disease. Big cities are also often vulnerable to man-made and natural disasters, such as earthquakes, chemical explosions, and economic and social unrest.
In East and South Asia, one-third to one-half of the poor will reside in cities or towns by 2025. "The sheer pace of urbanization is actually overtaking the capacities," Keshav Varma, director of East Asia Urban Development at the World Bank , said during a morning discussion. He said that developing countries are particularly strained with the rapid urbanization, often leading to poor living conditions in slums. Especially during times like the current global economic downturn and financial crisis, the urban poor are hit the hardest, Varma said, adding, "It will hit the poor in the worst ways." Slums are expected to continue growing, which means more impoverished people will face crowded living conditions without basic infrastructure like sewage, sanitation and clean water.
Beyond the immediate effects on poor urban residents, cities have negative environmental impacts on a national and global scale. Cities consume two-thirds of global energy and are responsible for 70 percent of emissions. What can cities do? Mark Bernstein, director of USC's Energy Institute, said better efficiency and renewable technology can help reduce energy use. Policy and regulatory options can help lead to the construction of efficient buildings, better public transit and use of "green financing". "If we don't deal with the mitigation issue in cities, then we're not going to deal with climate change at all," said Warren Evans, director of the World Bank's Environment Department .
The many issues facing megacities provide challenges for an academic institution like USC and an international development bank like the World Bank. USC professor and chair of the Department of Environmental and Civil Engineering Jean-Pierre Bardet said he sees the fledgling partnership as a way for engaging in further discussion, exchange of ideas and education between the two institutions. Additionally, advances in research by USC academics can benefit the World Bank in understanding evolving situations, Bardet said.
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