Urban Planning for City Leaders - Cities Alliance

Urban planning for city leadersWhy urban planning?Projections of urban population growth around the world tellus that between 2000 and 2050 the amount of urban spacewill need to be doubled in developed countries and expandedby 326 per cent in developing countries to accommodatepeople. 6 This is equivalent to building a city the size of GreaterLondon every month for the next 40 years. Local governmentswill have to manage this growth and the severe strain it willput on municipal finances. They will also have to preparefor the resulting social inequality and make plans to reduceenvironmental degradation and deal with the effects of climatechange.The fact that this population growth will occur largely inintermediate cities, with little human resource capacity andlimited budgets, will compound the problem.10