Financing Urban Shelter presents the first global assessment of housing finance systems, placing shelter and urban development challenges within the overall context of macroeconomic policies. The report describes and analyzes housing finance conditions and trends in all regions of the world, including formal housing finance mechanisms, microfinance and community funding, highlighting their relevance to the upgrading of slums. Recent policy developments in the area of shelter finance are…

This publication is a abridged edition of Financing Urban Shelter: Gobal Report on Human Settlements 2005 (the main report).

The Local Elected Leadership (LEL) series presents two roles and ten competencies essential for every elected official to effectively perform their job when serving local communities.

The Local Economic Development (LED) series is a resource for local governments, businesses and civil society organizations to help them initiate and implement local economic development interventions through a strategic planning process.

Sans des institutions locales solides et un personnel motivé, la décentralisation et la réforme des établissements humains n’apporteront pas les résultats escomptés en matière de développement.

Now more than ever, local governments are at the forefront of responding to growing social, economic and environmental challenges.

Sans des institutions locales fortes et un personnel motivé, la réforme de la décentralisation et des établissements humains ne donnera pas les résultats escomptés en matière de développement.

Detail the scale of inadequate provision of water and sanitation, impacts on health and economic performance, showing the potential gains of remedial action

The Challenge of Slums presents the first global assessment of slums, emphasizing their problems and prospects. It presents estimates of the numbers of urban slum dwellers and examines the factors that underlie the formation of slums, as well as their social, spatial and economic characteristics and dynamics. It also evaluates the principal policy responses to the slum challenge of the last few decades. The report argues that the number of slum dwellers is growing and will continue to increase…