Cities in developing countries and why urban planning doesn't really work

Cities in developing countries need planning. We can all picture the classic metropolis in a poor country – miles of shantytowns next to high rises, swanky commercial zones blocks from apartments full of squatters. The rich areas look fully developed, while the poor areas might as well be from a century ago. In comparison, cities in developed countries have rich and poor areas but they all have the same primary infrastructure (Balbo 24). As John C. Turner points out, “Rapid urbanization is essential to modernize political and economic structures and to raise productivity to the levels necessary for the support of the explosively growing populations” (354). Better infrastructure allows for more efficient economic growth, which in turn leads to a higher standard of living.

Unfortunately, we can’t rely on Western urban planning methods to develop cities in industrializing countries. We cannot really compare the urbanization of developing countries to the urbanization of developed countries for several reasons. The scale of change and rapidity of urbanization is almost unprecedented. Urbanization is now occurring in countries with relatively low levels of per capita income, and sometimes these cities are linked far more to the global economy than the domestic one (Cohen 27). For these reasons, as well as the different physical setup of metropolises in developing countries, traditional Western urban planning doesn’t work well in developing countries.

Traditional master planning is both too slow and too expensive for these rapidly urbanizing yet poor cities (Balbo 23). Just creating a new master plan can take several years, and implementing it takes far longer. With the rapid rate of urbanization and growth of cities in developing countries, the master plan may be obsolete by the time it is finished. Master plans are also very expensive, and cities lacking both strong institutions and pre-existing infrastructure may not have the resources to implement a master plan, particularly one that creates an entirely new infrastructure in some parts of the city.

To compound this problem, cities in developing countries often lack the strong governmental institutions that allow cities to develop and implement plans. McGill suggests that “urban management in developing countries is concerned with both city building (with its insatiable need for infrastructure) and institution building (with its seemingly endless need for increased capacity to perform)” (466). Unfortunately, infrastructure building is nigh impossible without institutions able fund and oversee the project.

Furthermore, cities in developing countries are fundamentally different from cities in developed countries. Many of them were created as a result of colonialism and thus have a bifurcated nature (Balbo 24). Even in cities built post-colonialism, there tends to be a much more striking gap between the rich and poor areas than in cities in developed countries because of the lack of an infrastructure base.

Some of the problem of maintaining infrastructure can be overcome by building efficiently and sustainably. Reducing urban sprawl is the classic example of sustainable cities. Given the huge population in these metropolises and the lack of planning, combined with lots of undeveloped land surrounding those cities, any significant increase in average standard of living will probably lead to the urban sprawl that plagues many American cities. Indeed, we can see some of this in the shantytowns in many major metropolises. While people in these areas live in do small spaces, the overall effects are one-level sprawl and poor, unsafe and unhealthy building materials. Efficient development is more sustainable than unplanned development.

In developing countries, we see giant metropolises surrounded by poverty stricken rural areas, creating disconnected environments. Physically as well as economically, a huge rural versus urban gap exists. However, connections between the two are growing, and small cities and towns are likely to see a large population expansion in the next few decades (Cohen 23). Cohen gives the example of desakota zones, from the Indonesian words for village and town or city. These are zones around cities that appear rural but derive most of their income from non-agricultural sources, such as remittances or cottage industries. With the creation of a middle class in developing countries, suburbs will most likely appear for those unable to afford living in the city center but unwilling to live in the poor sector. Developing efficient infrastructure in the current rural areas is also important to, again, reduce urban sprawl and create more efficient, sustainable cities. Moreover, a national network of infrastructure such as reliable roads can help spread the national wealth out from the capital city.

So how do we plan cities in developing countries? Some have suggested fully decentralizing and privatizing city planning (Rondinelli), but this solution calls on a strong planning sector of the economy, which is unlikely to exist in many developing countries. A better solution would be for developed countries to concentrate foreign aid on building infrastructure in developing cities. Foreign aid which increases standards of living without improving the infrastructure is ultimately unsustainable. Obviously, without money to maintain existing infrastructure no infrastructure is fully sustainable. However, putting infrastructure in place will help increase standards of living and thus improve the overall economy.

Balbo, Marcello. “Urban planning and the fragmented city of developing countries.” Third World Planning Review: 15.1 (1993) : 27- Web. 10 Nov 2011. <http://www.scribd.com/doc/48699717/Urban-planning-and-the-fragmented-city-of-developing-countries-by-Marcello-Balbo>

Cohen, Barney. “Urban Growth in Developing Countries: A Review of Current Trends and a Caution Regarding Existing Forecasts.” World Development: 32.1 (2004) : 23-51. Science Direct. Web. 9 Nov 2011. <http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305750X03001967>

Durand- Lasserve, Alain and Lauren Royston. Holding their ground: secure land tenure for urban poor in developing countries. London: Earthscan Publications, 2002. Web. 11 Nov 2011. <http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=DcrLxppydcQC&oi=fnd&pg=PR3&dq=international+urban+development+in+developing+countries&ots=HGetsuWyVv&sig=2B_aQ3JJW4jhPXfVQRJrD9pRQvE#v=onepage&q=international%20urban%20development%20in%20developing%20countries&f=false>

McGill, Ronald. “Urban management in developing countries.” Cities: 15.6 (1998) : n. pag. Science Direct. Web. 10 Nov 2011. <http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0264275198000419>

Rondinelli, Dennis A., James S. McCullough, and Ronald W. Johnson. “Analysing Decentralization Policies in Developing Countries: A Political-Economy Framework.” Development and Change: 20.1 (2008) : 57-87. Wiley Online Library. Web. 10 Nov 2011. <http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1467-7660.1989.tb00340.x/pdf>

Turner, John C. “Housing Priorities, Settlement Patterns, and Urban Development in Modernizing Countries.” Journal of the American Institute of Planners: 34.6 (1968) : 354-363. Web. Taylor and Francis Online. 9 Nov 2011. <http://www.tandfonline.com.proxyau.wrlc.org/doi/pdf/10.1080/01944366808977562>