English | Español Local governments in emerging, Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) cities, are facing a daunting task: expanding access to infrastructure services, with scarce financial resources, for fast-growing urban populations. While local expenditures have increased over the past decade in LAC (from 5.5% to 6.6% of GDP between 2000 and 2007), capital … [Read more...] about Financing Urban Infrastructure in Emerging Cities: Municipal Bonds
Financing Urban Infrastructure in Emerging Cities: Public-Private Partnerships
English | Español In the first post of this series, we asked how cities can help close the infrastructure gap in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC)—a US$250 billion annual gap—and looked at Manizales’ (Colombia) promising experience with betterment contributions to illustrate an untapped source of revenue for infrastructure financing in emerging cities. We will now look … [Read more...] about Financing Urban Infrastructure in Emerging Cities: Public-Private Partnerships
Can we manage the urban night? A conversation with Amsterdam’s Night Mayor
English | Español As mentioned in previous posts in this blog, for several years I have been doing research on the relevance of the night from a policy perspective for Latin America and the Caribbean. I recently traveled to Amsterdam, the capital of The Netherlands and a world reference when it comes to night-time policies and innovation. One of such innovations is … [Read more...] about Can we manage the urban night? A conversation with Amsterdam’s Night Mayor
Financing Urban Infrastructure in Emerging Cities: Betterment Levies
English | Español Infrastructure is at the core of livable, sustainable cities. Access to and quality of infrastructure services can determine how long our commute is; the size of a city’s carbon footprint; and even our odds of getting sick, to say the least. It has been well established among urban economists that the availability of sound infrastructure is necessary for … [Read more...] about Financing Urban Infrastructure in Emerging Cities: Betterment Levies
Creating Momentum for Change in Latin American and Caribbean Cities
English | Español Last week, 195 nations took an important step towards avoiding the most dangerous impacts of climate change when laying out a framework to cut global greenhouse gas emissions at the 21st United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP21) in Paris. While the biggest challenges lie still ahead, many observers see the agreement as a clear signal for change in how … [Read more...] about Creating Momentum for Change in Latin American and Caribbean Cities