Urban Development

Today around half of the world’s population already lives in a city. Urbanisation is increasing rapidly in developing countries in particular at an estimated rate of three to four percent a year. The Chinese fishing village of Shenzhen near Hong Kong, for example, grew into a major city with 3.5 million inhabitants in less than 20 years. Shanghai, one of China’s most important economic centres, is currently home to 14 million people. Rapid urbanisation often goes hand in hand the emergence of slums in the parts of a city where new arrivals settle, creating a whole host of new problems, in particular for public utilities and waste management services. Managing these giant cities is an enormous challenge.

Yet cites also offer important development potential. Because large numbers of people live close together, it is less expensive as a rule to provide the necessary infrastructure than it is for a rural area. This makes it somewhat easier to meet resident’s basic needs, a fact that often benefits poorer segments of the population in particular. Processes of democratisation also tend to emerge from areas of high population density and new models for sustainable living and management often develop there as well. The central tasks facing urban development today are modernising public administrative structures and promoting integrated concepts of urban development.

Developing the necessary urban infrastructure systems requires qualified experts and executives. Inwent works closely with the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT) on urban development issues. We offer programmes designed to strengthen the management skills of employees in public utilities and waste management enterprises. We provide administrative employees with the qualifications they need to restructure their administrations to bear the pressure brought about by change or to improve participation by the wider public in planning and decision-making processes.

In our partner countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America we support executives and young professionals through a range of advising services, advanced workshops and training. We offer dialogues and promote the exchange of knowledge and experience among participants through networks we help create. Some of our programmes have been running for years with great success. Inwent has offered a range of training seminars on sustainable urban management in China, for example, for 25 years now. These programmes are designed to provide our Chinese participants with problem solving and management skills with respect to such issues as protecting natural resources and increasing energy efficiency. They also discuses possible ways of reforming and modernising administrative structures.

The "International Cooperation for Sustainable City Development" sector programme promotes cooperation between cities in the “Sustainable Cities” network developed by the United Nations. Experts and executives involved in urban management need to combine strategic planning and economic efficiency with environmentally and socially responsible development. By bringing the right parties together, we provide an environment where participants can develop the model solutions best suited to their respective cities. Managing environmental disasters in high population density areas plays an important role in this process, as does the involvement of citizens and the formation of efficient information and communication systems on an open-source basis.

D+C online: Municipal administration - Help a healthy attitude take root