Slum Upgrading / Community Development

Initiatives in this area strive to make towns and cities, and especially inner-city and slum areas, more livable and economically productive.  The Urban Group’s main focus in this area is on providing basic services and infrastructure to the poor, particularly in slums and informal peri-urban settlements. 

Urban upgrading projects finance access to water and sanitation systems, access streets, lighting, drainage improvements, works, parks, daycare facilities, and community centers.  Projects sometimes include components to expand access to housing and prevent urban crime and violence.  The World Bank’s experience has shown that the success and sustainability of upgrading projects is contingent upon community involvement in decision-making, implementation and operation and maintenance, and through financial and in-kind contributions.  Providing secure tenure and facilitating home improvements by residents can encourage broader community participation in upgrading efforts.  And most importantly, experience shows that upgrading can be affordable and that low-income residents are willing to pay for infrastructure services in certain conditions. In addition, clear roles and responsibilities should be established for all participants, including governments, NGOs, the private sector and communities.

Municipal services projects focus on improving infrastructure and services at the municipal level, not just in the poorest communities. Other projects finance integrated urban improvements in areas of particular cultural or environmental importance.

For water and sanitation programs in Latin America and the Caribbean click here. 

SELECTED PROJECTS AND ANALYSIS

Recife Urban Development and Social Inclusion (CAPIBARIBE MELHOR) (Brazil). The objective of the project is to support the upgrading of slums in the Capibaribe River Basin and promote the integrated and sustainable development of the region. The project has three components. The first one focuses on institutional development which includes fiscal management and adjustment, environmental and urban management, and scaling-up capacity. The second component is for integrated urban territorial development which will include investments that are aimed at improving the quality of urban spaces along the margins of the river. Finally, the third component is for environmental, social, and economic development of the territory which will provide incentives for the participatory social and economic development of these communities and at the same time raise awareness of the natural environment of the region.

Teresina Enhancing Municipal Governance and Quality of Life Project (Brazil). The project aims to modernize and improve the management capacity of Teresina Municipal Government (PMT) in the financial, urban, environmental, service-delivery, and economic development fields and improve the quality of life of the low-income population of the Lagoas do Norte region of the city. The project has three components. The first one targets municipal management modernization, city development, and sound project management which includes activities aimed at improving financial and budget management processes and capacity, service delivery, and environmental management capacity. The second component focuses on integrated urban-environmental development in Lagoas do Norte through improvements in water supply, wastewater collection and treatment, drainage, recuperation of the natural environmental, rehabilitation of parks, etc. Finally, the last component comprises social and economic development interventions in the Lagoas do Norte region, including strengthening community associations, provision of improved social services (health, education services), environmental education, employment and wealth creation programs, and community mobilization and participation.

Slum Upgrading Up Close: Experiences of Six Cities. This publication captures some of the key knowledge and shared learning from an international policy dialogue on the “Challenges of Slum Upgrading: Sharing São Paulo’s Experience” held in São Paulo from March 10 to 14, 2008. This features the exchanges of different ideas and experiences on the issues and challenges of slum upgrading from high-ranking city officials from Cairo, Ekurhuleni, Lagos, Manila, Mumbai, and São Paulo. The most consistent messages emanating from the event are the indispensability of local leadership, a shared vision, clear political leadership, flexible policy making, commitment over time, and the meaningful involvement of the affected communities.

Alagados: The Story of Integrated Slum Upgrading in Salvador (Bahia), Brazil. This report tells the story of how the Technical and Social Support Project (PATS) for slum upgrading in Alagados in Bahia, Brazil, implemented from 2001 to 2006, improved living conditions for slum dwellers through an integrated, long-term and participatory approach. It also shows how the project’s success not only created beneficial impacts for the surrounding community but also significantly influenced slum upgrading policies in the entire state of Bahia, one of Brazil’s poorest. 

Tracing the evolution of poverty in Rio's Favelas.  How has life changed for people in Rio's favelas (urban slums) over the last 30 years?  How many of the same people are still living there and do they still feel marginalized by society?  Are they better off economically and in terms of access to services?  How are they coping with new problems such as drug-related violence?  And how optimistic are they about the future of their children and grandchildren? These are some of the questions that Janice Perlman, visiting fellow in the Bank's Urban Development group for Latin America & the Caribbean (LAC), is seeking to answer in her current study, to be published as a book entitled The Myth of Marginality Revisited:  The Case of Favelas in Rio de Janeiro, 1969-2003.

The Urban Poor in Latin America.  With three quarters of its population living in cities, Latin America is now essentially an urban region.   Higher urbanization is usually associated with a number of positives, such as higher income, greater access to services, and lower poverty rates. In Latin America, urban poverty incidence, at 28 percent, is half that of in rural areas; extreme poverty, at 12 percent, is a third.   Despite this relatively low poverty incidence, the absolute number of poor people is high, and most studies agree that about half of Latin America' s poor live in urban areas.   The Bank's own estimates suggest that 60 percent of the poor (113 million people) and half the extreme poor (46 million individuals) live in urban areas.  The Urban Poor in Latin America, a 2005 World Bank book edited by Marianne Fay, reviews what is specifically urban about poor people living in cities, which reveals a number of facts, critical to understanding the challenges facing the urban poor, and the means to address these challenges.