15 – 20 November 2017 — Urbanization generates a number of benefits that contribute to the economies of scale and agglomeration particularly if well managed and planned. But the experience shows that cities and local governments in the developing world, and in Asia it is not so different, are largely ill-equipped to deal with rapid urbanization and the increasing demand for land, housing, infrastructure and urban services.
It means cities and local governments must prepare themselves as organization and their territories in order to face enormous challenges and be able to ensure that no one is left behind and be excluded from the wealth and prosperity generated by cities and planned urbanization This remarkable urban transformation will be accompanied by the growth of slums and informal settlements that will cause adverse impacts on the sustainability of cities, worsen the quality of life and force large parts of the urban population to live in appalling living conditions.
The aim of the training course was to help participants increase their knowledge, equip them with innovative tools and know-how for designing and implementing appropriate policies, approaches, programmes and interventions in housing and slum upgrading that help their city to achieve the SDG11.1.
The workshop was designed to respond to the challenges faced by senior managers and decision makers who face with rapid urbanization and are directly involved in the planning, management and implementation of housing, urban regeneration policies and citywide slum upgrading programmes in Asian cities. Those working in local and national governments, NGOs, private sector companies will find the course useful.
The course enabled the participants to:
• Acquire a sound knowledge about the challenges of informal urbanization that plague Asian cities;
• Develop an understanding of the rationale and the underlying causes of informal land and housing development processes that propel the appearance of slums and informal settlements;
• Understand the Agenda 2030 and the SDG’s in particular the SDG11 and its targets with an emphasis on the SDG11.1 focused on housing and slums;
• Understand the structure and functioning of the housing sector;
• Acquire a set of tools to analyse and understand housing markets and the rationale of supply and demand in view of defining housing affordability; and
• Develop knowledge and skills about the planning and implementation of citywide about slum upgrading programmes.