id21 viewpoints

The world comes to Nanjing for the World Urban Forum

The November 2008 World Urban Forum brought together leading urban planners, policymakers, researchers and practitioners from around the world. Geoffrey Payne argues, however, that major donors are not doing enough to address the challenges of urban growth.

November 3-6 2008 was not a good time to expect decisions about urban planning applications, housing developments or academic theses. About 7,000 of the world's leading urban planners, policymakers, researchers and NGO staff took time out to converge on Nanjing, China, for the fourth World Urban Forum (WUF4).

This forum, which is held every two years, focused on 'harmonious urbanisation' and stressed the need to address the high levels of inequality present in affluent countries as well as poor countries. It was also significant that 2008 is the first year when humanity became more urban than rural.

The majority of urban growth is in developing countries, which could triple their urban built-up areas by 2030, from 200,000 to 600,000 square kilometres. This would match the world's combined urban area in 2004. Already, one in three of the world's urban population live in slums and squatter settlements and this is forecast to increase to 1.4 billion by 2020 and 2 billion by 2030 unless radical action is taken. Such a transformation presents an unprecedented challenge to policymakers, professionals and urban residents themselves. Sadly, you would never realise this from the low level of donor funding.

International commitment to urban-related issues has never been high but even this appears to be reducing. The UK's Department for International Development (DFID) and Sweden's SIDA no longer have dedicated sections dealing with urban issues and DFID sent just one staff member to join the small UK delegation in Nanjing. Despite an increase in its programme budget from little more than £3 billion in 2002, to about £8 billion in 2010, DFID suffers annual 'efficiency' cuts of five percent in its administrative budget, so that London-based policy advisers have minimal budgets to influence policy. Urban projects, such as those in India, depend on in-country agreements and committed local staff. As a result, DFID's international influence on urban development policy and practice has diminished greatly.

The British planning profession was well represented in Nanjing, reflecting an encouraging awareness of global issues. Together with the Commonwealth Association of Planners, the Royal Town Planning Institute launched a 'Self Diagnostic Tool' earlier this year to help planning organisations across the world to assess their capacity to respond to the challenges of urban growth. Sadly, the Royal Institute of British Architects was not represented.

Although most delegates were urban professionals, a large number of mayors, national politicians and private sector representatives also participated. Such diversity of viewpoints is vital to achieve progress.

As one of the smaller United Nations (UN) agencies, the challenge facing UN-Habitat is to increase support for addressing urban issues. This goal will not be achieved by holding large conferences or publishing reports, but by persuading those in positions of influence in governments and the donor community. Iain Wright, Junior Minister for Communities and Local Government, represented the UK in Nanjing. Apparently he was extremely impressed by the experience, so perhaps he can encourage ministerial colleagues in DFID to re-engage with the urban agenda globally, since urban issues are central to addressing climate change and poverty reduction targets.

Geoffrey Payne

Further Information
Geoffrey Payne and Associates
34 Inglis Road
Ealing Common
London W5 3RL
UK
Tel +44 20 89922683
Fax +44 20 89922683
Email gkpayne@gpa.org.uk

Useful links
Geoffrey Payne and Associates - housing and development consultants

World Urban Forum 4

December 2008

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