Recommended Actions by Actor to Achieve More Equitable and Sustainable Cities

This report by the World Resources Institute provides a roadmap of recommended actions for various urban actors to achieve more equitable and sustainable cities. It outlines seven cross-sectoral transformations—covering infrastructure, service provision, data, employment, finance, land management, and governance—designed to close the 'urban services divide' and improve the quality of life for vulnerable urban residents, particularly in the global south.

• The report identifies seven key transformations necessary to improve urban quality of life and service provision for the excluded: Infrastructure Design (prioritizing the vulnerable), Service Provision (partnering with informal/semi-formal providers), Data Collection (community engagement), Urban Employment (valuing informal workers), Financing and Subsidies (innovative targeting), Urban Land Management (transparency), and Governance and Institutions (coalitions and collaboration).
• To prioritize vulnerable populations in infrastructure, city governments should democratize streets by prioritizing walking, cycling, and public transport, and accelerate the shift to cleaner cooking by moving away from solid fuels to electricity, biogas, ethanol, or liquefied petroleum gas.
• The report advocates for integrating informal and semi-formal service providers into unified delivery systems. It suggests that national governments should legalize this integration and establish social safety nets and insurance programs for small-scale or informal providers.
• Improving local data requires a shift toward coproducing and sharing granular data with community participation. City governments are encouraged to use satellite imaging and drone surveys supplemented by community-gathered data to identify access gaps.
• Urban employment policies should recognize the value of informal workers by granting them the same rights as other workers, including legal identity, social protection, and access to core infrastructure services.
• To address the urban services divide, the report recommends innovative financing, such as targeted subsidies for low-income consumers, flexible payment mechanisms for those with irregular incomes, and the use of land value capture to invest in public infrastructure.
• Sustainable urban land management requires transparent nationwide land records of ownership and values to limit speculation. The report emphasizes in situ upgrading of informal settlements in low-risk locations over relocation programs.
• Effective governance depends on creating diverse coalitions of public, private, and grassroots organizations. National governments are urged to increase the autonomy of urban governments and authorize them to enforce spatial development plans.

APA

World Resources Institute (n.d.). Recommended Actions by Actor to Achieve More Equitable and Sustainable Cities. https://files.wri.org/d8/s3fs-public/2022-10/recommended-actions-by-actor.pdf?VersionId=2W4a1sfH2ZStOOnzDiqRTbg60wpFt1pP

Chicago

World Resources Institute. Recommended Actions by Actor to Achieve More Equitable and Sustainable Cities. n.d. https://files.wri.org/d8/s3fs-public/2022-10/recommended-actions-by-actor.pdf?VersionId=2W4a1sfH2ZStOOnzDiqRTbg60wpFt1pP.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Resources Institute |title=Recommended Actions by Actor to Achieve More Equitable and Sustainable Cities |url=https://files.wri.org/d8/s3fs-public/2022-10/recommended-actions-by-actor.pdf?VersionId=2W4a1sfH2ZStOOnzDiqRTbg60wpFt1pP |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldresourcesinstitutendrecommended, author = {{World Resources Institute}}, title = {{Recommended Actions by Actor to Achieve More Equitable and Sustainable Cities}}, institution = {World Resources Institute}, url = {https://files.wri.org/d8/s3fs-public/2022-10/recommended-actions-by-actor.pdf?VersionId=2W4a1sfH2ZStOOnzDiqRTbg60wpFt1pP}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }