Urban Poverty in Developing Countries: A Scoping Study for Future Research

This paper is a scoping exercise to explore options for research on urban poverty in low- and middle-income countries. Based on a review of the literature and experience, the first part reviews the changing nature of the urban poverty agenda over the last 30 years by comparing today’s issues with those addressed in the 1979 World Development Report. The issues are categorized by new issues, old issues that are still relevant and forgotten issues, and are grouped by challenges, instruments, analytical and planning tools, data and benchmarks, regions/countries/cities and institutions. The paper suggests that while some of the old issues and prescriptions are still valid today, and some important ones are apparently forgotten, there are many new issues and approaches that now need greater consideration. The second part of the paper takes the large array of issues identified in the first section and selects 10 for more detailed consideration as part of a menu of potential high-priority research initiatives on urban poverty. They include slums, employment, small- and medium-size cities and women/children/youth (from among the challenges); comprehensive slum upgrading programmes, conditional cash transfer programmes and incentive-based approaches (from among instruments); and happiness and life satisfaction research approaches, impact analysis and strategic planning tools (from among analytical and planning tools). Among regions, countries and cities, Africa is recommended as a regional focus, China and India for country studies and Bogotá (or possibly other large cities) for specific city studies