About Upgrading Urban Communities

An interactive format with choices, tradeoffs, tools,
and 'hints' targeted to administrators and practitioners.

Navigation throughout the Resource is accomplished by clicking on the file folder tabs in the graphic above at the top of this page. The tabs will take you to that section area. Learn more about the tab navigation graphic. There are also text links at the bottom of this page to help you navigate the site.

WHY ARE WE DOING THIS?

To promote awareness of the critical problem of providing basic services to the rapidly increasing urban poor.
To capture and evaluate the growing experience from upgrading projects and programs,
To structure the increasing wealth of documentation for increased accessibility.
To provide a resource for practitioners as well as for administratorsl

WHAT ARE THE FEATURES OF THIS SITE?

Layered levels of information; with summaries and how/where to get information
Lessons documented through case examples and experience of practitioners
Usable in various forms: read, print and make posters
A living structure: protocol provides for continued growth

WHAT ARE THE BASIC ASSUMPTIONS?

Knowledge is a key element of tackling and scaling-up of upgrading efforts.
Communities are equal decision-making partners in the process of upgrading.
- They know their community and issues.
- Involvement increases sustainability.
- They will live the effects and often participate in the implementation.
Professionals will always be outsiders but contribute broader perspectives and missing skills.
Upgrading is more than simple water lines and sewage disposal, and has a broad development agenda with social, health, education and economic components.
Programs with large-scale, broad impact are the goal.
There are no magic solutions: each community must be addressed on its own merits.

WHAT CAN YOU DO: JOIN IN!

We welcome contributions and comments. This is a work-in-progress which is continuously updated as the information is gathered. A CD is published periodically to reach a wider audience.

CREDITS

Prepared with the support of the Cities Alliance, a global partnership to achieve the promise of well-managed cities. Cities Alliance Logo

Prepared for the Thematic Group for Services to the Urban Poor, The World Bank, directed by George Gattoni, Roberto Chavez, Julie Viloria and with support from Rumana Huque and Christianna Johnnides.

Prepared by SIGUS - Special Interest Group in Urban Settlement, School of Architecture and Planning, MIT.
sigus@mit.edu

Prepared by Reinhard Goethert and Anne Beamish with Kristin Little. Web site design by Will Donovan. Additional contributions from Nastasha Collins, Jennifer Mack, Vinit Mukhija and Kishore Varanasi. Website proof reading by Barbara MacLeod.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The views and interpretations herein should not be attributed to the World Bank, the United Nations, the Cities Alliance, or to its affiliated organizations or to any individuals acting on their behalf.
Copyright © 1999-2001, The World Bank Group. All Rights Reserved.


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