This report is the primary output from
the climate change impact and adaptation study for the
Bangkok Metropolitan Region (BMR) produced for the Bangkok
Metropolitan Administration (BMA) with financial support
provided by the World Bank. The report concerns climate
change, and provides an analysis of climate change impacts
and adaptation options for the BMR. In addition to the more
general matters on the physical setting and socioeconomics

This paper assesses the state of
research and examines priorities for future work in the area
of urbanization and growth. This is done by reviewing and
summarizing the findings of five scoping papers covering the
following topics: urban poverty, the political economy of
urban poverty, urban real estate and housing, urban
infrastructure finance, and external assistance for urban development.

En Afrique, pres de 500 millions de personnes resident aujourd'hui dans des bidonvilles. La plupart de ces quartiers ne sont pas << en regle >> en matiere de foncier, d'habitat, d'amenagement ou de services. Les operations urbaines constituent un outil privilegie pour ameliorer les conditions de vie des habitants des quartiers precaires. Malgre des progres indeniables realises dans la derniere decennie, le bilan reste mitige, notamment en termes d'impacts social, economique, urbain et environnemental.

The last decade has seen a significant increase in the number of retail centres being developed in 'emerging economy' areas - townships and rural areas - in South Africa. In Soweto, for example, at least six shopping centres have opened their doors since 2005. Even in the townships of smaller South African cities, shopping centre developments have sprung up, changing the face of commercial transactions for many residing in these areas.

Con base en una encuesta comparativa a asentamientos irregulares y conjuntos de "vivienda social" de la Región Metropolitana de Santiago, caracterizamos la decisión de vivir en estos "campamentos" como orientada a combinar dos objetivos generalmente excluyentes: mejorar la localización dentro de la ciudad y acceder a una vivienda formal en propiedad. El que los campamentos se sigan recreando a pesar de la masiva producción de unidades subsidiadas por el Estado, y el que la mayoría de sus residentes no estén bajo la línea de la pobreza, avalan esta conclusión.

Youth Bamboo Shoots Slum School (YBSSS) is a project of VFI Cambodia. 

The goal: to provide a safe and creative place for over 65 children to attend school in the dilapidated slum area near Battambang City's central railway station.

Man-made climate change is affecting water infrastructure in all regions of the world, affecting large numbers of people in their daily life and the development of their societies. As part of the World Bank Water Anchor's analytical and advisory work on water and climate change, consultants have investigated how private sector services to infrastructure may address the challenges related to climate change while, at the same time, improving development opportunities for people.

These documents summarise Urban LandMark's approach to incrementally securing tenure in informal settlements. This approach emphasises practical mechanisms that allow land rights to be upgraded over time. It has been developed from a range of activities, including input from research papers, a considerable number of interviews, and the testing of different processes with municipalities. The second report focuses on the notion of local land offices and their potential for promoting tenure security and incremental tenure processes. 

The young man was scared. The city government had instructed him to count the shacks in the settlement. He arrived smartly dressed carrying a briefcase and clipboard with pen in hand and a list of the shacks. His job was to find any new shacks without the official number painted on the door. But he immediately ran into problems. The local residents confronted him, asking what he was doing. Soon a small crowd had gathered. They took him into the community hall, where a meeting was under way. He explained that the city had sent him, but the local people were suspicious.

Most developing countries have less than 30 percent cadastral coverage. This means that over 70 percent of the land in many countries is generally outside the land register. This has caused enormous problems for example in cities, where over one billion people live in slums without proper water, sanitation, community facilities, security of tenure or quality of life. This has also caused problems for countries with regard to food security and rural land management issues.

This case study draws on research into some of the processes through which people access, hold, and trade land in poorer areas of towns and cities. The research was commissioned by Urban LandMark and undertaken by the Isandla Institute, Stephen Berrisford Consulting and Progressus Research and Development. 

Much of São Paulo’s urban expansion is driven by the development of informal settlements on its periphery, which includes the catchment areas that provide important environmental services such as open space and catchments for drinking water reservoirs. In such areas, governance of land, water services and water resources, traditionally administered separately, are in fact interdependent.