IAP Statement on Implications of Urbanization in Low- and- Middle- Income Countries

In recent years, urban development in low-and middle-income countries (LMICs) has been the subject of serious discussion at the international level. In 2015, UN Member States adopted 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) among which SDG#11 was specifically about the sustainability of cities. In the following year, the outcome of the UN’s Habitat III conference on a ‘New Urban Agenda’ was endorsed in its entirety by the UN General Assembly. Those two international events bind all countries globally to be cognizant of and to promote these recommendations. Even earlier, in 2012, population growth coupled with unplanned urbanization was recognized as being among the most serious concerns worldwide by the InterAcademy Partnership (IAP, 2012).