Seven Transformations for More Equitable and Sustainable Cities

The report argues that a significant 'urban services divide' exists in the global South, where over 1.2 billion people lack reliable access to housing, water, sanitation, energy, and transport. This divide creates a cycle of poverty and environmental degradation. To break this cycle, the authors propose seven transformations: prioritizing the vulnerable in infrastructure design, partnering with alternative service providers, improving local data through community engagement, supporting informal workers, innovating financing and subsidies, promoting transparent land management, and creating diverse governance coalitions. The report emphasizes that these shifts can yield cascading economic and environmental benefits, including reduced GHG emissions and improved public health.

• More than 1.2 billion people, or approximately one-third of urban residents worldwide and two-thirds in low-income countries, are under-served by core urban services including housing, transport, water, sanitation, and energy.
• The 'urban services divide' imposes significant financial burdens on the poor, who often pay more for inferior services than those with municipal access; for example, some residents pay 50 times more for bottled water than for piped water.
• Informal employment is pervasive in the global South, representing between 50% and 80% of urban employment, and in some countries like India and Kenya, it accounts for nearly 90% of the workforce.
• Cities in the global South are projected to account for more than half of global urban carbon dioxide emissions by 2050 if current carbon-intensive growth trends continue.
• Investment in water and sanitation can provide high social returns, with every $1 invested generating between $4 and $34 in benefits through improved health, time savings, and productivity.
• Infrastructure design often prioritizes private vehicle users over the majority of residents; in many cities, upwards of 95% of road space is allocated to cars and trucks.
• The report identifies seven essential transformations: Infrastructure Design and Delivery, Service Provision Models, Data Collection Practices, Informal Urban Employment, Financing and Subsidies, Urban Land Management, and Governance and Institutions.
• Integrating alternative or informal service providers into formal systems can expand service coverage and improve quality, as seen in the integration of waste picker cooperatives in cities like Pune and Bengaluru.
• The use of satellite imagery, drones, and community-gathered data can help cities map informal settlements and identify service gaps that are often missed by official censuses.
• National governments are critical for financing large-scale urban infrastructure because they collect nearly 75% of total public revenues worldwide.
• Ineffective land management and a lack of transparency in land records often lead to urban sprawl, where the poor are pushed to the periphery, increasing the per capita cost of providing services.
• Transformative change is most sustainable when it is driven by diverse coalitions of public, private, and civil society actors aligned around a shared vision, rather than fragmented, project-based interventions.

APA

Mahendra, A., King, R., Du, J., Dasgupta, A., Beard, V. A., Kallergis, A., & Schalch, K. (2021). Seven Transformations for More Equitable and Sustainable Cities. World Resources Institute. https://files.wri.org/d8/s3fs-public/2021-10/transformations-equitable-sustainable-cities.pdf?VersionId=eDW1GgIXYhwUmdNluUMul9LuMsns3MRX

Chicago

Mahendra, Anjali, Robin King, Jillian Du, Ani Dasgupta, Victoria A. Beard, Achilles Kallergis, and Kathleen Schalch. Seven Transformations for More Equitable and Sustainable Cities. World Resources Institute, 2021. https://files.wri.org/d8/s3fs-public/2021-10/transformations-equitable-sustainable-cities.pdf?VersionId=eDW1GgIXYhwUmdNluUMul9LuMsns3MRX.

Wikipedia

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BibTeX

@techreport{mahendra2021seven, author = {Mahendra, Anjali and King, Robin and Du, Jillian and Dasgupta, Ani and Beard, Victoria A. and Kallergis, Achilles and Schalch, Kathleen}, title = {{Seven Transformations for More Equitable and Sustainable Cities}}, institution = {World Resources Institute}, year = {2021}, url = {https://files.wri.org/d8/s3fs-public/2021-10/transformations-equitable-sustainable-cities.pdf?VersionId=eDW1GgIXYhwUmdNluUMul9LuMsns3MRX}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }