The Impact of Investing in Cities

According to World Bank research, approximately 56% of the world’s population – 4.4 billion inhabitants – live in cities. This trend is expected to continue, with the urban population more than doubling its current size by 2050, at which point nearly 7 of 10 people will live in cities.??Over the next 20 years, urban population in developing countries will double to 4 billion, while the urbanized land area will triple.*

This percentage of the world’s population now living in urban areas means development’s focus on cities is central to shaping democratic governance. USAID’s Democracy, Human Rights, and Governance (DRG) programs increasingly recognize the immense potential of urbanization to promote transparency, accountability, and civic participation as outlined in this month’s USAID/DRG Learning Digest.?

The Learning digest highlights opportunities for democracy in the density of cities, for instance noting that improved public service delivery can help build trust between citizens and local governments, encouraging greater civic engagement. By enhancing the capacity of urban governments to administer essential services, USAID programming supports efforts to increase government transparency and resilience to climate change and disasters. For example, complementary investments in systems like transparent financial management, citizen engagement in development planning, and the institutionalization of multi-year budgeting create a more autonomous, participatory, and responsive urban governance framework.

By providing technical support and conducting rigorous research, The Cloudburst Group works with USAID to understand how urbanization, governance reforms, and public service improvements can promote more democratic outcomes. It’s not always easy to see the connections, so strong data collection and analysis and thoughtful monitoring and evaluation remain crucial to understanding how urbanization programming contributes to democratic outcomes.?

*Sources:

https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/urbandevelopment/overview?utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery?

https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/sustainable-communities?

Resources:

To learn more about the impact of urbanization and investing in cities: https://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/PA021XJ3.pdf?

To learn more about Cloudburst’s DRG work, please contact: [email protected].