79554 Inside this Issue: ISSUE 3 JULY 2013  SAR Workshop, June 2013  Webinar - Informal housing challenge  Featured Country—India South Asia Urban newsletter Highlights from South Asia Regional Workshop: Promoting Access to Affordable Land and Housing The third South Asia regional workshop ticipants discussed unique and com- held between June 3rd and 5th, 2013, mon challenges, lessons learned, and at Thimphu, Bhutan, brought together practical solutions covering the multiple government officials, urban policymak- dimensions of this topic and the inter- ers and practitioners for an informative linked thematic areas of development in dialogue on “Promoting Access to Af- the context of each South Asia country Over 80 representatives from fordable Land and Housing.� The par- and the region. seven South Asian countries gathered in Thimphu, Bhutan to Main challenges and take-aways from the workshop attend the regional workshop At the three-day event, the discussion ysis grounded in solid data indicative of was centered on long and short-term trends and needs over time should be strategies and implementation tools embedded in policy decision-making. used to deliver equitable access to land Multiple data tools, such as, cadastral and housing, such as regional plans, data, geo-referenced household sur- and strategic plans, while accounting for veys, satellite maps, census data, could institutional, technical, and financial be combined to fill data gaps, and pre- capacity of government entities. Several sent a comprehensive storyline. (iii) thought-provoking questions were Slums and informal housing should be raised: Should cities accommodate peo- recognized as a part of the urban fabric ple or divert people? Should public poli- and rebranded by changing their lan- Government funded housing cies promote rental housing or home- guage and visual. Recognizing the link- projects, such as ChangJiJi in ownership? How can slums be effective- ages between informal job markets and Thimphu provide housing for ly integrated into cities? What are the formal and informal settlements in land low income civil servants. costs of upgrading versus greenfield use and infrastructure planning will sup- development? port growth and socio-economic well- being. (iv) A combination of long-term, The take-aways summarized by Ming intermediate, and short-term planning Zhang and Martin Rama, who empha- allows better management of immedi- sized that “urbanization is occurring and ate priorities and future vision. In this is unstoppable,� resonated with the par- respect, urban plans are important tools ticipants. Some final observations in- for interagency coordination, and more cluded: (i) One size does not fit all, and importantly, giving the public a seat at therefore, policy and implementation the table, because as one participant approaches should be tailored to the pointed out, “If you are not at the table, local context, and account for trial and The Dechencholing Local Area you are food.� Plan, piloted land-pooling and error over time. (ii) Evidence-based anal- land readjustment methods, an innovative tool for servicing The presentations from the workshop are available for download, by clicking here. land with public infrastructure. Judy Deng and Chyi-Yun Huang shared their thoughts in the following blog posts: The project will provide (i) Urbanization and Affordable Housing; (ii) The Development of Secondary Cities in housing to 187 households. South Asia; and (iii) Is Urban Planning Necessary? Page 2 South Asia Urban Newsletter Urbanization Webinar Series Upgrading Housing in Informal Settlements The urban population of developing Housing in Informal Settlements.� This countries will double over the next 30 webinar highlighted the challenges of years and UN-Habitat estimates that upgrading housing in informal settle- approximately 3 billion people will need ments, and shared lessons from around To listen to webinar recording and housing and basic infrastructure over the globe where targeted policy interven- read the discussion, click here. the next 25 years. Furthermore, already tions and grassroots movements have 70 percent of existing housing in the mobilized resources to create success developing world is built informally stories. Guest speakers, Julian Baskin without appropriate structural stand- (Cities Alliance, Senior Urban Upgrading Interesting Readings ards. Thus, the challenge lies in recon- Specialist), Elisabete Franca (Sao Paulo Click on links ciling this informality and interaction of City Government, former Housing Deputy informal settlements with the existing Secretary), Tasneem Siddiqui (Sindh Housing the poor in Asia Cities and future built-environment of a city. Katchi Abadis Authority, former Director In light of these challenges, the South General), and participants from different Asia urban team at the World Bank, as parts of the world joined the discussion Rental Housing : Lessons from International Experience and part of its urbanization webinar series, on informal settlements. Policies for Emerging Markets organized a discussion on “Upgrading Country Feature — India Urbanization beyond Municipal Boundaries : Nurturing Metropoli- As India follows in the footsteps of oth- have highlighted the benefits and trade- er developed countries towards urbani- offs of these agglomeration economies tan Economies and Connecting zation, questions on the corrective ac- and presented some underlying dynam- Peri-Urban Areas in India tions and pre-emptive policy measures ics in the article-“Spatial disparities in to balance growth and equitably distrib- India-Have Mumbai and Chennai be- India—12th Five Year Plan Hacka- ute the benefits arise. Politicians and come too congested?� (Klaus Desmet, Ejaz thon policymakers alike have voiced con- Ghani, Stephen D O’Connell, Esteban Rossi-Hansberg) cerns of uneven distribution of econom- An important trend observed by analyz- The Poverty Line—what it means ic activity, and in turn rising socio- ing enterprise data on formal and infor- to be poor in different countries economic disparity. Already dense met- mal sectors, is the relocation of orga- ropolitan cities, Mumbai, Calcutta, Del- nized manufacturing sector from high- hi, are reeling under pressures of high density clusters to less congested areas, cost of living for their residents and un- thus becoming more spatially dispersed. affordable land and built areas. This in Service sector remains the dominating turn impact manufacturing activities contributing factor to India’s growth. It is and enterprise formation. However, the the services and unorganized sectors, benefits of co-existence in these high- which are attracted to the high-density density cities, despite congestion costs, metropolitan areas, implying different which manifests in agglomeration econ- policy intervention. For more details omies continue to attract immigrants read: “Is India’s manufacturing sector and entrepreneurs. Research studies moving out of the cities?� (Ejaz Ghani, Arti Grover Goswami, William Kerr) According to World Bank estimates, South Asia is facing a shortage of 38 We look forward to your million housing units, largely affecting low and middle-income households. comments and feedback! India alone has 52,000 slums inhabited by 14 percent of its total population. Almost, 50 percent of total population in Karachi, i,e, 7.6 million persons, Contact Us! lives in Katchi-Abadis. Bangladesh has 2,100 slums and more than 2 million southasiaurban@worldbank.org slum dwellers in Dhaka. In Afghanistan, 80 percent of residents in capital city, Kabul live in informal settlements