This paper focuses on three interrelated questions on urbanization and the geography of development. First, although we herald cities with their industrial bases as "engines of growth," does industrialization in fact drive urbanization? While such relationships appear in the data, the process is not straightforward. Among developing countries, changes in income or industrialization correlate only weakly with changes in urbanization. This suggests that policy and institutional factors may also influence the urbanization process.

The paper explores whether one of the
largest programs in the world for women's empowerment
and rural livelihoods, the Indira Kranti Patham in Andhra
Pradesh, India, has had an impact on the economic and social
wellbeing of households that participate in the program. The
analysis usespanel data for 4,250 households from two rounds
of a survey conducted in 2004 and 2008 in five districts.
Propensity score matching was used to construct control

This study assesses the alignment of
land use, land tenure, and land market outcomes in El
Salvador with public policy aspirations in recent decades
for efficient, inclusive, and environmentally sustainable
development in both urban and rural spaces. In doing so the
study indirectly gauges the effectiveness of land sector
institutions in facilitating such developmental outcomes in
agricultural production, urbanization, and forest

Cities' development matters to
Pakistan. It is central to economic growth, job creation and
quality of life. This is also one of the core themes in the
2011 Government of Pakistan Framework for Economic Growth
(FEG). This paper explores the conditions for
growth-enhancing spatial change in Pakistan s cities.
Cities' development matters to Pakistan. Two strands of
analysis are developed. First, it reviews the performance

This note explores issues within the
urban logistics and port-cities thematic pillar. It is one
of three focus areas, or thematic pillars, for the
multi-donor trust fund for sustainable logistics (MDTF-SL).
The goal of this pillar is to finance activities that will
assist developing countries in two areas; addressing urban
congestion resulting from retail distribution of goods, and
improving the sustainable design and operation of

Disasters are increasing worldwide, with
more devastating effects than ever before. While the
absolute number of disasters around the world has almost
doubled since the 1980s, the average number of natural
disasters in Middle East and North Africa (MNA) has almost
tripled over the same period of time. In the MNA, the
interplay of natural disasters, rapid urbanization, water
scarcity, and climate change has emerged as a serious

This review analyzes the profile, trends
and challenges of Georgia's changing urban landscape
since independence in 1991 and provides policy suggestions
to facilitate the economic transition of the country through
its cities. In its analysis and subsequent recommendations
on policy interventions, this report draws on a program of
diagnostics called the 'Urbanization Review' (UR).
The UR diagnostic is based on three main pillars of urban

Just as development means less poverty
or better access to justice, it also means fewer gaps in
wellbeing between males and females. Women's
empowerment and gender equality are development objectives
in their own right, as embodied in the Millennium
Development Goals. It is espoused as well in the Convention
on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against
Women (CEDAW), ratified by the Philippines in 1981; the

This paper examines the effects of
urbanization on development and growth. It begins with a
labor market perspective and emphasizes the importance of
agglomeration economies, both static and dynamic. It then
argues that more productive jobs in cities do not exist in a
void and underscores the importance of job and firm
dynamics. In turn, these dynamics are shaped by the broader
characteristics of urban systems. A number of conclusions

Urbanization deserves urgent attention
from policy makers, academics, entrepreneurs, and social
reformers of all stripes. Nothing else will create as many
opportunities for social and economic progress. The
urbanization project began roughly 1,000 years after the
transition from the Pleistocene to the milder and more
stable Holocene interglacial. In 2010, the urban population
in developing countries stood at 2.5 billion. The developing

Urbanization is undoubtedly a key driver
of development - cities provide the national platform for
prosperity, job creation, and poverty reduction. But
urbanization also poses enormous challenges that one is
familiar with: congestion, air pollution, social divisions,
crime, the breakdown of public services and infrastructure,
and the slums that one billion urban resident's call
home. Urbanization is perhaps the single most important

This paper focuses on several
interrelated key questions on the geography of development.
Although we herald cities with their industrial bases as
'engines of growth,' does industrialization in
fact drive urbanization?1 What economic activities do cities
of different sizes undertake? Does this change as countries
develop? If so, what are the policy implications? Do
development policies have a big-city bias? If so, what does