Sameh Wahba, director of Urban and Territorial Development, Disaster Risk Management and Resilience at the World Bank’s Social, Rural, Urban and Resilience Global Practice (GSURR), lays out a vision of cities in 20 years time. In the first vision, cities are ungovernable due to inadequate planning and poor management. Not only are they incapable of providing affordable or effective basic services, but inequality has worsened because vast numbers of people live in slum-like settlements at the fringe of the city, unable to access the jobs concentrated in central areas due to failing transport networks.

In the second vision, cities are well planned and well managed, able to accommodate rapid population growth while still creating liveable and sustainable urban environments. Effective urban infrastructure, public transportation systems and data-driven, people-centred urban planning work together to make cities resilient, but also to increase green public spaces.

To reach the second vision in the future, regional, national and city leaders need to make the correct urban planning decisions today, writes Wahba. As a first step, it is necessary to strengthen institutions for integrated land use and transport planning, as well as for land management and property rights. Investing in resilient basic infrastructure to meet the population’s needs, and in particular connecting city dwellers to jobs and markets, is a necessary second step. Recognising that the infrastructure financing needs of cities is immense, Wahba urges governments to better leverage private sector financing.