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The State of the World's Cities 2001

Published by the United Nations Centre for Human Settlements Nairobi, 2001

Most United Nations reports focus on country-level analyses of human development. Now, for the first time, the United Nations Centre for Human Settlements-UNCHS (Habitat)--has released a report focusing exclusively on city-level analyses of a wide range of urban issues. Produced to coincide with the Istanbul +5 special session of the General Assembly, held from 6 to 8 June 2001, The State of the World's Cities 2001 is a first in-depth attempt to monitor, analyze and report on the realities faced by urban populations around the world.

The report notes that cities are the main players in the global economy. Large cities typically produce a significant share of the gross domestic product of countries, yet manage to capture only a small percentage of national revenue per year. This, suggests the report, has significant ramifications for urban development. It also touches on urban poverty and how liberalized trade and finance, without proper safeguards, make urban populations everywhere more vulnerable to external shocks.

The report underscores that people's processes and initiatives and enabling governing structures must unite to form broad-based partnerships that will promote justice, equity and sustainability in cities. It concludes that a country's global success rests on local shoulders: for the good of all citizens, city and State must become political partners rather than competitors. Most importantly, if accommodation requires new political arrangements, institutional structures or constitutional amendments, it is never too late--or too early--to begin making changes.

In his foreword UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan refers to The State of the World's Cities 2001 as "a milestone in the efforts of the United Nations to build and disseminate knowledge for policy makers and the general public", adding that it is a valuable contribution to collective efforts to implement the Habitat Agenda. At its launch in New York on 4 June, Anna K. Tibaijuka, Executive Director of UNCHS (Habitat), stated that the report presented the United Nations with an additional tool to monitor urban conditions and trends. The report is significant in that it uses the city, rather than the country, as the basic unit of analysis, she said. "This means that we can now authoritatively differentiate between national development and urban development and make policy recommendations based on city data. This is a significant step forward in the UN efforts to provide up-to-date information on the state of the world and how well or how badly it is performing in various areas of development."

The report explores a range of urban issues and policy responses in five major areas--shelter, society, environment, economy and governance--and takes a look, region by region, at urbanization trends and issues. Some interesting facts have emerged:

* In 2020, the Asia and the Pacific region will host the largest number of urban dwellers in the world--1.97 billion people, or 46 per cent of the region's projected total population of 4.3 billion.

* Only a quarter of Europe's urban population lives in cities with more than 250,000 people; half the urban population lives in small towns of 10,000-50,000 people, while a quarter lives in medium-sized towns of 50,000-250,000 people.

* Latin America and the Caribbean is the most urbanized region in the developing world, with 75 per cent of its population living in cities.

* Lagos (Nigeria) will be the third largest city in the world in 2010, after Tokyo (Japan) and Mumbai (India).

* One billion people live in inadequate housing, mostly in slums and squatter settlements in developing countries.

* The right to adequate housing is recognized by 70 per cent of the world's countries.

* The Arab States region provides the greatest protection against forced evictions.

* Informal sector employment makes up 37 per cent of the total employment in developing countries as a whole and is as high as 45 per cent in Africa.

* Municipalities, in highly industrialized countries obtain an average of $2,906 per capita in revenue per year. This figure is almost 200 times the average revenue obtained by African municipalities per capita per year.

Employing the Urban Indicators and Best Practices databases of UNCHS (Habitat) among other sources, the report makes regional comparisons of city level analyses and data, and introduces for the first tome the City Development Index, a tool developed by the Centre to track regional, national and city level progress.

Easy to read and beautifully illustrated with photographs tables, and graphs, The State of the World's Cities 2001 will make a valuable addition to any relerence library and will appleal to all those interested in making our cities work. It's undoubtedly one of the most significant publications to come out of the United Nations in recently years.