What are the key challenges in urban areas?
• Sustaining urban areas as engines of growth. Cities are focal points for economic activities, and engines of economic growth. They are centers of excellence for education, health care, culture, technological innovation, entrepreneurship, social services, government administration, and communications with the world. They create opportunities for jobs, employment and livelihood. They are as well focal points for rural hinterlands to alleviate rural poverty. • Managing urban growth. The rapid rate of urbanization needs to be effectively managed to ensure that the potential economic and social development arising from urbanization are optimized to reduce poverty, improve the quality of life and protect the environment. • Bridging supply and demand gap on infrastructure services. There exists an enormous gap between demand for infrastructure services and capacity to finance urban development. In 2004, conservative estimates suggested about $250 million per year in infrastructure investmen
