Regional Report on the State of Latin American and Caribbean CitiesSOLACC

Montego Bay, JamaicaJuly 15th 2009

UN-HABITATUN-HABITATUnited Nations Human Settlements Programme

Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean - ROLAC

1. Background

2. What we have got so far...

3. Key themes and aspects found

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Regional Report on the State of Latin American and Caribbean CitiesSOLACC

Partial Assessment to July of 2009

The structure of the presentation includes the following themes:The structure of the presentation includes the following themes:

4. Final Comments

•Urbanization trends: how urban is the region?•Social conditions: poverty, informality and inequality•Decentralization: Urban governance systems and local empowerment

o The first Regional Report on the State of Latin America and Caribbean Cities (SOLACC) shall be presented during WUF-5 in Rio de Janeiro (March, 2010).

o It aims to contribute to the needs for accurate data in relation to urban development and the generation of an information culture that enables a more informed decision making process at national and local levels in the region.

o The report will be used to reinforce and explain the major characteristics of the cities in the region and to contribute effectively to the preparation of the World Report of the coming year.

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1. Background

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2. What we have got so far...

o Within the preparatory process, ROLAC is promoting a convergence of actions and activities among all key regional partners (MINURVI, FLACMA, HIC, UNIAPRAVI, ECLAC, IADB, AECID, GTZ, etc)

o National Focal Points, as agreed with MINURVI, were designated and responsible for collecting the material available in the country (texts, photos, tables, charts, maps, etc) following the guidelines defined by ROLAC.

o ROLAC prepared two Questionnaires to collect information about municipalities for urban, urban population, urban growth, metropolitan areas, and economic concentration. This Questionnaires were distributed to National Focal Points by MINURVI Technical Secretariat during January and March respectively, for gathering the available data within 30-60 days.

o A initial assessment of the data was done and delivered to the by Focal Point s for their feedback.

o UN-HABITAT’s HPMs in the region (COL, COS, CUB, ECU, MEX and NIC)have been in contact with the national focal points and have made efforts to expedite delivery of information.

o Formulation and submission of project to Cities Alliance, through Argentina as the MINURVI Technical Secretariat.

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2. What we have got so far Situation of the Report – July 2009

• Identification of 17 17 focal points by members of MINURVI (ARG, BAR, BRA, CHI, COL, COS, CUB, DOM, ECU, ELS, HON, JAM, MEX, NIC, PAR, PER, URU)

• Questionnaires I and II delivered by MINURVI Secretariat to 2121 countries (ARG, BAR, BRA, BOL, CHI, COL, COS, CUB, DOM, ELS, ECU, GUA, HAI, HON, JAM, MEX, NIC, PAN, PAR, PER, URU).

• 6 6 countries (ARG, CUB, ELS, MEX, PAR, PER) completed and delivered Questionnaires I and II; data reviewed by UN-HABITAT and corrected by the focal points.

• 33 countries (COL, CHI, COS) with Questionnaires I and II completed, delivered and reviewed. Pending delivery of corrections suggested by UN-HABITAT.

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2. What we have got so far Situation of the Report – July 2009

• 22 countries (HON, URU) with questionnaire I completed, delivered and reviewed. Pending delivery of Questionnaire II.

• 22 countries (DOM, JAM) with Questionnaire II completed, delivered and reviewed. Pending delivery of Questionnaire II.

• 11 country (BRA) with Questionnaire I and reviewed. Corrections suggested by UN-HABITAT and questionnaire II in assessment.

• 33 countries (BAR, ECU, NIC) with national focal points identified and pending delivery of Questionnaires I and II.

• 66 countries (BOL, GUA, HAI, PAN, TRI, VEN) pending appointment of Focal Point.

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3. Key themes and aspects found3. Key themes and aspects found

Regional trends and key features of the region: Elements to present and share with other regions to contribute to the process of urban development.

Differences in urbanization and development within the Latin America and the Caribbean region.

* Findings and conclusions are based on the information from

National Focal Points received until July 6th 2009.

• Urbanization• Decentralization • Inequality.

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Increased in population of intermediate and small cities, both in concentration of population and number.

General comments on population distributionGeneral comments on population distribution

Source: Data given by National Focal Points.

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General comments on population distributionGeneral comments on population distribution

Source: Data given by National Focal Points.

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Asia

RURAL62%

URBAN38%

Africa LAC

RURAL60%

URBAN40%

URBANA77%

RURAL23%

Urbanization trends: How Urban is the region? Urbanization trends: How Urban is the region?

Rural/Urban Population distribution by regionRural/Urban Population distribution by region

Source: UN-HABITAT ; State of the World ‘s cities 2008/2009

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Cuba

RURALRURAL50%50%

URBANURBAN50%50%

El Salvador Uruguay

RURAL25%

URBANAURBANA92%92%

RURAL8%

Urbanization trends: How Urban is the region? Urbanization trends: How Urban is the region?

Rural/Urban Population distributionRural/Urban Population distributionLatin American ExamplesLatin American Examples

Source: Data provided by National Focal Points

URBAN75%

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3. Key themes and aspects found 3. Key themes and aspects found Urban trends: How Urban is the region? Urban trends: How Urban is the region?

The heterogeneity among countries in terms of population, territory and socioeconomic characteristics make it quite difficult to typify the urbanization process in the region.

Most of the countries have a very high percentage of urban population (above 74%). In addition, the countries that have a relatively lower levels of urbanization, as it is the case of Paraguay and El Salvador (57% and 50%), still have more than 50% of urban population what is high for international standards and proves that the region is mainly urban.

Source: Data given by National Focal Points.

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3. Key themes and aspects found 3. Key themes and aspects found Urban trends: How Urban is the region? Urban trends: How Urban is the region?

Source: Data given by National Focal Points.

• In general terms, the growth of cities has not been significant between the 90s and 2000.

• Less and slower growth of bigger cities (1 million to 5 million inhabitants) and larger cities ( 5 million and more).

• Medium-sized cities (500.000 to 1 million inhabitants) and smaller cities ((100.000 to 500.000 inhabitants) have suffered an intense process with rates higher than the bigger cities, due to: proximity to the capital city, proximity to centers of economic development and/or tourism migration and changes in economic activity

• Increasing importance of Medium-sized cities playing the role of regional centers and showing new patterns of spatial and economic reorganization.

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3. Key themes and aspects found 3. Key themes and aspects found Urban trends: How Urban is the region? Urban trends: How Urban is the region?

Urban trends show that even so urbanization has apparently reached saturation levels and slum formation should slow by definition, still housing deficits remain high, slums are prominent in most cities and the living conditions of the cities inhabitants can still be upgraded.

AVEAVE

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3. Key themes and aspects found 3. Key themes and aspects found Urban trends: How Urban is the region? Urban trends: How Urban is the region?

• In relation to the definition of URBAN, the countries selected took population size as the main referent. However, with the exception of Argentina, other countries also took additional factors such as: physical structures, infrastructure, access or availability to services and local planning and management capacity.

• Regarding Urban Agglomerations, either there is not official definitions or the existing ones just describe a physical continuity crossing administrative boundaries. In the same way, the data collected showed a variety in terms of the characteristics of the Agglomerations making it difficult to define or establish trends.

• Growth rates of the Agglomerations have increased considerably over the past 15 years.

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3. Key themes and aspects found 3. Key themes and aspects found Social conditions: poverty, informality and inequality Social conditions: poverty, informality and inequality

In the countries surveyed, there are no specific definitions for “urban poverty”. The applicable concepts are “poverty line”, “extreme poverty” and “indigence” although no distinction is made between urban and rural conditions or the relation between income and the value of a basket for basic goods and services. In general terms, informality is defined in relation to the physical and legal conditions, not always being considered the informality in relation to the economic activity.

In all cases, rates of access to basic services are substantially higher in urban areas, although the differences between urban and rural areas varies considerably between cases.

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Measurements of the Gini Coefficient (GC) in urban areas indicate figures between 0.45 and 0.60 which showed a high degree of inequality if we consider that these figures are higher than average figures for countries in other developing areas.

Inequality is not limited to income, but it goes beyond the unequal access to education, health, water and electricity, which is evident in the information related to the lack of services.

3. Key themes and aspects found 3. Key themes and aspects found Social conditions: poverty, informality and inequality Social conditions: poverty, informality and inequality

AVEAVE

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3. Key themes and aspects found Decentralization: Urban governance systems and local empowerment

In general, management and delivery of basic services is being transferred to local governments. In some cases, their responsibilities for primary health care, basic education, environmental protection, economic development and social welfare have increased.

As a tendency, intermediate level of government is strengthened in federal countries, while in the Andean region and Chile, the reform efforts focused on strengthening the municipal level. In Paraguay and Uruguay, the pace of reform has been slower while in El Salvador and Cuba the processes are still incipient.

• Cities Alliance project (USD 195,000)o Submitted by Argentina on behalf of MINURVI in April, 2009;

o Comments received from the Secretariat last week, requesting a few adjustments;

o Final version to be re-submitted by mid-August;

o Approval probably in September, 2009, for disbursement in 2009 and 2010.

o [Funding combined with the resources mentioned below]

• UN-HABITAT Contribution through Medium-Term Strategic Funding (USD 165,000 > secured USD 95,000 for 2009)

o To contract the preparation of 7 Concept Papers (one for each Chapter)

– Characteristics, Dynamics and Regional Trends; Population and Urbanization; Economic role of LAC cities; Urban poverty and housing conditions; Urban environmental challenges; Urban governance systems and local empowerment; Conclusions.

o To organize an Expert Group Meeting (EGM) involving a balanced representation from stakeholders, geographic situation and regional partners

o To draft the final report

o To organize a second EGM to review and validate the report.

o To publish the report and circulate it at WUF-5 (March, 2010)

o To incorporate final comments and recommendations and to finalize the text of the Regional Report for publishing and wide distribution.

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4. Final Comments