Leveraging Urbanization in South Asia

The number of people in South Asia's cities rose by 130 million between 2000 and 2011--more than the entire population of Japan. This was linked to an improvement in productivity and a reduction in the incidence of extreme poverty. But the region's cities have struggled to cope with the pressure of population growth on land, housing, infrastructure, basic services, and the environment. As a result, urbanization in South Asia remains underleveraged in its ability to deliver widespread improvements in both prosperity and livability. Leveraging Urbanization  in  South  Asia  is  about  the  state  of  South  Asia's  urbanization and the market and policy failures that have taken the region’s urban areas to where they are today--and the hard policy actions needed if the region’s cities are to leverage urbanization better. This publication provides original empirical  and  diagnostic  analysis  of  urbanization  and  related  economic trends in the region. It also discusses in detail the key policy areas, the most fundamental  being  urban  governance  and  finance,  where  actions  must  be taken to make cities more prosperous and livable.