GOLD Report I - UCLG

91st UCLG World Report on Decentralizationand Local Democracy in the WorldForewordThis publication of the UCLG on Decentralizationand Local Democracy comes at atimely moment. The world has just passed asignificant threshold: it is now more urbanthan rural, with a greater number of peopleliving in cities than at any time in history.Furthermore, over the next 30 years mostworld population growth will be in developingcountry cities. Highly visible megacitieswill continue to grow, but more slowlyon the whole, while cities under 1 million insize are projected to absorb a populationincrease of nearly one half billion in the next15 years.This demographic shift constitutes thematuration of the urbanization process andposes a tremendous challenge for poor andmiddle income countries. The challenge is toprovide the services that are essential to thehealth, education, prosperity, and wellbeingof people living in cities, and to do sosustainably in the face of global challengessuch as climate change.Many developing countries seeking to respondto the challenge posed by thesedemographic shifts will choose decentralizationand local democracy in variousforms as one tool to achieve basic socialends. Regardless of the degree of decentralization,in an increasingly urbanizedworld governance and management incities and towns will take on heightenedimportance. The World Bank applauds thework of the UCLG in underscoring thesekey functions and we welcome this Reportas input to our collective thinking on thesubject.While many of the problems facing citiesand towns may be global, the solutions will,in large measure, be local and unique to thespecific circumstances on the ground. Goodsolutions will result from a smooth collaborationamongst various levels of governmentthat is crafted pragmatically to getresults. We look forward to a strong partnershipwith UCLG.Katherine SierraVice President, Sustainable DevelopmentThe World Bank