As the globe continues to urbanize, like this community in Haiti, the United States is increasing its investment in activities and initiatives that demonstrate the important role of cities in achieving the SDGs.
Development Innovations Group for USAID
Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable
Rapid urbanization is today’s defining development trend. When USAID was founded in 1961, roughly 34 percent of the world’s population lived in urban areas. By 2030, that figure will rise to over 60 percent as cities and towns become home to more than 1.4 billion additional people. Nearly all of this growth and movement will take place within the developing world, much of it in fragile states.
Ensuring that urbanization in the developing world happens sustainably is an urgent priority as cities’ populations and areas are growing faster than the ability of national and local governments to plan for, build, and manage these changes.
USAID takes a systems-based, holistic approach to sustainable urban development that integrates food security, economic growth, health, education, climate change, and resilience programming in a context of urbanization. We achieve this by:
- Building partnerships that support locally-led development at the municipal and national government levels,
- Supporting legal, policy, and institutional reforms and stakeholder capacity building,
- Reducing costs and improving efficiencies through partnerships and innovation,
- Creating knowledge through scientific research and geospatial analysis to identify and disseminate emerging trends, evidence, and best practice, and
- Providing technical assistance to address complex challenges that threaten stability or security and pose barriers to equitable economic growth.