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Doing it the Parana way in Brazil
The urbanisation rate in the southern Brazilian state of Parana has been intense. The state’s urban population soared from 36 per cent, in 1970 to 78 per cent in 1996. At the same time the number of municipalities grew 39 per cent.
As the municipalities grew, bureaucracy increased slowing down public sector services.
The Parana State Secretariat for Urban Development adopted a strategy of political and administrative decentralisation with emphasis on local institutional development. Financial management was transferred to the control of PARANACIDADE, a non-profit autonomous social service entity.
This strategy has resulted in 100 municipalities, with a population of about 1 million people, adopting the programme.
Hanam – a Korean experience
In 1971 most of the land around the city of Hanam in the southeastern part of Kyonggi province, Korea, was designated a green-belt area. But as the city grew over the years, its residents complained about the restrictions. Nearly 30 years later in 1999, during an international environment exhibition UNDP and UN-HABITAT held a symposium at which it was agreed to turn Hanam into a model eco-city. The complaints virtually stopped.
Today, the Hanam experience shows that even a small local city of 130,000 can be re-born as a modern city planned in partnership with the local government, the national authorities and international organisations.
CITY-NET in the Asia-Pacific region
Fast economic growth in the Asia-Pacific region in recent decades has created huge metropolitan centres confronting national and local authorities with finding new ways of providing services for their rapidly growing urban populations. CITY-NET was created through an initiative by UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UN-ESCAP).
With 47 full members and 47 associate cities, its secretariat is based in Yokohama, Japan. It is a partner in the UNDP-funded Urban Management Programme for Asia and the Pacific (UMPAP) together with ESCAP, Urban Management Programme/ASIA(UMP-Asia), UN-HABITAT, AP2000, and the World Bank.
New homes in Walvis Bay, Namibia
Walvis Bay is Namibia’s only port. Its well-developed fishing industry has attracted job seekers from all over the country. Its poorest suburb of Kuisebmond has a large influx of migrants. This has resulted in an acute housing shortage.
In March 2000 the Municipality designed a new settlement area. The creation of Tutaleni Village has greatly contributed towards solving some of the problems related to backyard squatting. More than 800 families have been relocated successfully and now enjoy electricity, water, sanitation and refuse amenities that a little more than a year ago seemed unattainable.
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