people and planet

5
it in urban economies is important for a city’s prosperity,
an accurate understanding of its economy and the social
inclusion of those involved in the sector.
Targeted analyses of informal employment by type of
occupation show that in 2013, domestic workers, homebased
workers and street vendors accounted for about
one-third of urban employment in India, and that street
vendors alone accounted for 15% of the urban workforce
in South Africa. In China,
analysis of an urban labour
survey of six cities found
Improving basic
informal employment
education levels and fairly high at 33%,
skills development especially for women
(ILO and WIEGO, 2014).
fosters more
inclusive economies
Since education is
inextricably tied to
employment prospects,
continuous improvement in basic education levels and
skills development is needed to foster more inclusive
economies (UNESCO, 2012). For example, based on data
on Mumbai, India, from the 2011 Indian Census, the GEM
Report team calculated that adult women who were
not fully employed had a higher level of illiteracy (19.2%)
compared to fully employed women (13.5%).
Education institutions can play an important role in
improving working conditions in the informal sector. For
instance, in a project in Chicago, the Institute for Justice
and the University of Chicago Law School partnered with
informal sector workers to improve their legal standing,
helping around 2,000 street food vendors sell their
products legally. They set up a legal clinic to empower the
vendors and provide them with legal services, education,
outreach and advocacy. An ordinance drafted in the project
was used to change local regulation (Carrera et al., 2016).
EDUCATION HAS A POSITIVE SOCIAL IMPACT,
PARTICULARLY IN REDUCING CRIME
Education is well documented to have a positive social
impact, particularly in reducing crime. It does this by
increasing the potential for certain types of employment
opportunities, thus creating less incentive for crime, which
is often more prevalent in urban areas. Education may also
teach individuals to be more patient and to be more averse
to risks such as punishment for crimes, and increase their
interactions with more educated persons. Going to school in
and of itself reduces the incidence of crime (Lochner, 2011).
Global empirical evidence confirms that educational
attainment is strongly negatively associated with crime
indicators, especially when contrasting populations with
and without high school diplomas (Lochner, 2011). Using
2007/08 data, a study calculated that a 5 percentage point
increase in male high school graduation rates would have
nearly US$20 billion in total benefit to the US economy via
reduced crime and higher earnings (DeBaun and Roc, 2013).
Similar crime-reducing effects are shown in Europe. In
Norway, people who complete upper secondary education
enjoy better labour market prospects and are less apt to
use public welfare benefits and less likely to be charged with
a crime (Falch et al., 2010). In England and Wales (United
Kingdom), prolonging compulsory schooling led to a major
reduction in crime and violence (Machin et al., 2011).
A similar trend is found in middle income countries.
A city-level analysis of seven Colombian cities found
that a higher level of human capital in a city (education
levels, primary and secondary education coverage) was
associated with a lower homicide rate (Poveda, 2012). Being
educated to grade 12 or higher in South Africa decreases
the likelihood of being incarcerated (Jonck et al., 2015).
In the United States, strong evidence has been found of
the long-term effects of early childhood education on
crime in adulthood. An analysis of Chicago’s governmentfunded
Child-Parent Centers found that children who did
not go to the pre-school programme at age 3 to 4 were
70% more likely to be arrested for a violent crime by age
18 (Lochner, 2011).
EDUCATION IS KEY FOR WIDESPREAD
ADOPTION OF MORE SUSTAINABLE TRANSPORT
Education should be integrated into urban planning as a tool
to achieve social and environmental aims. One example is
the widespread adoption of more sustainable transport.
Current trends show that cities consume the vast
majority of natural resources and are responsible for
most greenhouse gas emissions. Education can improve
awareness of environmental challenges and individual
and communal responsibilities to address them (see
Chapter 1: Planet). For example, it can support more
sustainable transport within cities. Many rapidly growing
cities will become unsustainable in relation to space and
transport (Pucher et al., 2007). Increased acceptability of
public transport is clearly needed (UN Habitat, 2013), as
is a re-envisioning of urban space and promotion of non-
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CHAPTER 5 | PLACE: INCLUSIVE AND SUSTAINABLE CITIES