Innovative strategies for metropolitan development: Evidence from selected countries in Africa and Latin America

Urbanization rates in Latin American and African Countries are increasing rapidly and generating economic and political important urban agglomerations. The (often unexpected) increase of population is a challenge across the world, but the trend of rural-urban migration is still even more prominent in LAC and Africa and cities and metropolitan areas must find solutions to make their territories sustainable.

Unplanned growth often leads to urban sprawl, turning former green areas and agricultural production zones into urban and peri-urban areas. If local and regional authorities are unable to rapidly provide efficient infrastructure, basic services and adequate housing, those settlements face challenges of being disconnected and informal, are unable to supply (clean) water, energy and proper waste management services and turn into an unhealthy environment for the population.

The New Urban Agenda recognized the importance of planning and manage cities at metropolitan and regional levels in its paragraphs 90 and 96, as well as the SDG11 in its target 11.a. Metropolitan areas are not only 'big cities': they spread across different administrative boundaries and often lack a financial strategy and a governance structure to deal with challenges at metropolitan level. Even though metropolitan areas might generate a high proportion of a country's GDP, they are not yet fully involved in decision-making, or lack the necessary authority and resources to manage their respective critical metropolitan and territorial concerns.

This session aims to introduce innovative initiatives and strategies for inter-municipal cooperation mechanisms based on functional metropolitan areas in Latin America and Africa and showcase effective governance, planning and especially financial instruments for performing municipal and metropolitan administrative tasks as well as delivering public services.

The participating metropolitan areas will present the strategies, policies or frameworks they implemented for the improving metropolitan solutions, including transport schemes and impacts on the environment, the economy, social cohesion, quality of life, accessibility, road safety, public health and action on climate change, among others. UN-Habitat will introduce methodologies and tools for supporting government authorities in their efforts for a sustainable metropolitan development.