Government initiatives to reduce the housing deficit in Colombia go back more than a hundred years, but it was only after the creation of the Ministry of Housing as an independent agency, a decade ago, that national housing policy took on the relevance that it has today. Since then, Colombia has...

While information exists on the process of indigenous migration to urban centers, there is very little systematic data on the current situation of urban indigenous populations in Mexico. This study analyzes the situation of five indigenous ethnic groups in three urban centers of Mexico: (a) the...

Over the last decade, turkey has initiated several regulatory and institutional reforms to better mitigate and reduce disaster risks, with a focus on seismic risk. The Squatter (Gecekondu) Law No. 775 (1966) was the first regulatory effort to produce housing for low-income groups in Turkey, and...

The government of Bulgaria requested the World Bank's support in assessing the housing and living conditions of marginalized communities in the Northwestern (NW) region of the country, with an explicit but not exclusive focus on the Roma population. The objective of this assessment was to...

Resilient Housing (RH) initiatives are a crucial means of improving access to safe and sanitary housing in urban areas of high vulnerability. These projects make residents safer, healthier, and more secure, and increase the economic inclusion of the world's poorest populations. They upgrade...

Urban sanitation remains a significant challenge for most low- and middle-income countries. While sanitation coverage has been increasing across both the 48 least developed countries (LDCs) and developing regions as a whole, progress has been relatively slow. In many cities, even where improved...

This synthesis report details the process, outputs and intermediate outcomes of the Water and Sanitation Program - World Bank (WSP) Technical Assistance (TA) to Service Level Benchmarking, Citizen Voice and Performance Improvement Strategies in Urban Water Supply and Sanitation (UWSS) in India....

Cities in the developing world are rapidly expanding, boosting countries' economies, reducing poverty, and fueling global prosperity. But as more people, assets, and economic activity become concentrated in cities, and infrastructure struggles to keep up with rapid growth, the risk posed by...

This study "Opportunities for Improving Urban Service Delivery in South Sudan: A Tale of Two Cities" comprises a 3 part series. Part I-Service Delivery Status Report-gives a general overview of the service delivery models currently operating the country. Part II-International Case Studies...

This study "Opportunities for Improving Urban Service Delivery in South Sudan: A Tale of Two Cities" comprises a 3 part series. Part I-Service Delivery Status Report-gives a general overview of the service delivery models currently operating the country. Part II-International Case Studies...