The Cities Alliance

The Cities Alliance—a multi-donor coalition of cities and their development partners, aimed at improving the livelihoods of the world’s urban poor—has just released its 2007 annual report. The report discusses Cities Alliance members’ efforts to provide safe, sanitary housing as they have worked to fix current problems and taken preventative measures for the future. A key strategy in this regard is the establishment of transparent rules for the sale and development of property. Another step is the creation of an urban growth plan to help municipalities decide where new roads and other infrastructure should be placed, and even how they should zone areas for different types of future land use. Funding is also critical as city governments need to find income sources such as loans and property taxes to fund infrastructure development. Individual citizens also need a way to finance the purchase of property before formal types of housing can replace slums.

To download the full report, click here.