More than 40,000 people are gathered in Quito, Ecuador, to discuss the future of cities, while aid organizations in Iraq brace for an exodus from Mosul as the government leads an offensive to reclaim the city. This week in development news.
The first residents have begun to flee the Iraqi city of Mosul, as a government-led offensive on the city aims to reclaim it from two years of ISIS control. As of Wednesday evening, 1,900 internally displaced persons had already fled the city, according the U.N., the beginning of what humanitarians say could be an exodus of up to 1 million people. Aid groups have been prepositioning supplies for months, but they say rapid displacement could easily overwhelm preparations. The Iraqi armed forces expect 200,000 people to be displaced in just the first several weeks of the campaign. Aid groups speaking with Devex said they expect IDPs to be displaced for a significant period of time due to ongoing insecurity, lack of services, and a fear of reprisal attacks against civilians by government forces and an array of allied militias. NGOs have only begun to consider how they will address the longer term needs of displaced persons — for example, education and psychosocial support. Iraq is now home to 3.3 million IDPs, many living in temporary camps without fully operational service infrastructure. Devex examines these issues in a piece publishing Friday, so stay tuned.
The future of cities is being debated and discussed this week in Quito, Ecuador, at Habitat III, where nearly 45,000 people from all levels of government, business and civil society are grappling with what rapid urbanization means for development. One of the discussions has centered around so-called new cities, which are megaproject, master-planned cities built in new areas, a phenomenon that is catching on, particularly in developing countries. Habitat III will see the adoption of the New Urban Agenda — a new U.N. framework document for sustainable urbanization — and much of the debate is around how to implement the non-binding agreement. And of course, how to finance the policies it outlines. One form of financing proposed is land value financing, where governments can use the rising property values expected as a result of urban development to help pay for those efforts.
About the author
Adva Saldinger@AdvaSal
Adva Saldinger is a Senior Reporter at Devex where she covers development finance, as well as U.S. foreign aid policy. Adva explores the role the private sector and private capital play in development and authors the weekly Devex Invested newsletter bringing the latest news on the role of business and finance in addressing global challenges. A journalist with more than 10 years of experience, she has worked at several newspapers in the U.S. and lived in both Ghana and South Africa.