Urban Programs at USAID
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Photo by Flickr/beppe_tapelessfilm
“Cities embody some of society’s most pressing challenges, from pollution and disease to unemployment and lack of adequate shelter. But cities are also venues where rapid, dramatic change is not just possible but expected."
-- Ban Ki-moon, UN Secretary General
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UP co-hosts panel discussion on slums and urban poverty
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Today, for the first time in history, more than half of the Earth’s population lives in cities. This major demographic milestone is due in part to the rapid urbanization of the developing world, where the proportion of city dwellers has increased from 20 percent to 40 percent in less than 50 years.
Experts predict that this trend will continue, with more than 90 percent of global population growth over the next two decades taking place in developing-country cities. Most of these new urban residents will live in informal settlements, swelling the ranks of slum-dwellers to 2 billion by 2030.
Helping cities cope with this unprecedented urban growth is a critical component of the international development work in which USAID is engaged. If well-managed, cities can serve as engines for growth, innovation, and peace. Without assistance, however, rapid and uncontrolled urbanization will strangle economies, degrade the environment, endanger human health, and exacerbate social and political conflict. USAID’s Urban Programs Office is helping cities adjust to an increasingly urban world by providing technical assistance and funding in the following areas:
>> To learn more about the Urban Programs Office's' initiatives, please visit the Making Cities Work website.
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