Towards a More Equal City

The document argues that over 1.2 billion city dwellers lack reliable access to basic services, creating an "urban services divide" that hinders economic development and climate goals. It proposes seven transformations—ranging from partnering with alternative service providers to supporting informal workers—to improve equity, prosperity, and sustainability in rapidly growing cities.

• Approximately one in three city dwellers, totaling over 1.2 billion people, lack reliable, safe, or affordable access to essential services including electricity, running water, sanitation, decent housing, and transport.
• Unsafe sanitation creates a global economic burden of US$223 billion per year through lost wages, productivity, and health costs, whereas investments in water and sanitation can yield returns of US$4–34 for every US$1 spent.
• The document identifies seven cross-sectoral transformations to bridge the urban services gap: partnering with alternative service providers, improving local data through community engagement, prioritizing the vulnerable in infrastructure design, promoting transparent land management, creating diverse governance coalitions, innovating financing and subsidies, and supporting informal workers.
• In Kampala, the implementation of pro-poor sanitation innovations involving partnerships between small businesses, communities, and government led to improvements in other sectors by shifting government practices.

APA

World Resources Institute (n.d.). Towards a More Equal City. https://files.wri.org/d8/s3fs-public/uploads/WRR_Towards_a_More_Equal_City_Brochure.pdf

Chicago

World Resources Institute. Towards a More Equal City. n.d. https://files.wri.org/d8/s3fs-public/uploads/WRR_Towards_a_More_Equal_City_Brochure.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Resources Institute |title=Towards a More Equal City |url=https://files.wri.org/d8/s3fs-public/uploads/WRR_Towards_a_More_Equal_City_Brochure.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldresourcesinstitutendtowards, author = {{World Resources Institute}}, title = {{Towards a More Equal City}}, institution = {World Resources Institute}, url = {https://files.wri.org/d8/s3fs-public/uploads/WRR_Towards_a_More_Equal_City_Brochure.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }