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The most read in 2023 about housing and urban development

January 12, 2024 por Daniel Peciña-López Leave a Comment

Este artículo está también disponible en / This post is also available in: Spanish


We have just started a new year, and it’s time to share the highlights from our blog throughout 2023. Guided by our experts, consultants, and prominent collaborators, last year we addressed multiple topics of interest and current relevance. In this article, we share the top ten, covering everything from how cities can support climate action to issues of urban discrimination, and the construction of sustainable and resilient housing.

For you, as a reader, it’s an opportunity to read or revisit essential articles on housing and urban development in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). Don’t miss out!

1. How can cities in Latin America and the Caribbean drive climate action?

Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) face one of the greatest threats to sustainable development: the effects of climate change. The impacts of global warming, such as rising temperatures, loss of biodiversity, and extreme weather events (hurricanes, droughts, floods, etc.), are increasingly evident in our region. To address these challenges and achieve the climate goals set in the Paris Agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), LAC countries need the commitment and support of their cities.

Local governments play a key role in the fight against climate change. Therefore, the IDB, in its commitment to improving the lives of Latin Americans and Caribbeans, has recently published a monograph aimed at helping cities make the best decisions to mitigate and adapt to the effects of climate change. Keep reading to learn more details about this publication and the important role that LAC cities play in the fight against climate change.

Read more here.

2. Green City Financing in Latin America and the Caribbean

Cities are called to be fundamental players in the region’s decarbonization efforts. Despite many of them being at the forefront of planning and designing environmental policies to mitigate and adapt to the consequences of climate change, financing remains a bottleneck.

While there are significant differences among LAC countries, three structural trends have contributed to increasing the demand for subnational financing in the region.

Get all the details here.

3. Let’s build sustainable housing!… with carbon-neutral and locally adapted materials

Did you know that the construction and operation of buildings are one of the most polluting sectors? This is partly because some of the most commonly used materials, such as concrete or steel, demand a significant amount of natural resources, consume a lot of energy, and produce a large amount of greenhouse gas emissions.

Can we do something about it? The answer is yes. The use of carbon-neutral and locally adapted materials (such as wood, raw earth, clay, or bamboo, among others) can be one of the most effective solutions to this problem.

Continue reading (in Spanish) here.

4. How to measure urban poverty?: A multidimensional approach for segregated cities

For decades, eradicating poverty has been the goal of countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. Nevertheless, 32.1% of its population has incomes below the poverty line, and 13.1% below the indigence line.

Measuring poverty is vital to eradicate it. Therefore, it is relevant to ask why the most widely disseminated data on poverty are based on income levels, despite recognizing that poverty is a multidimensional concept. Poverty goes beyond income, as a person can suffer multiple disadvantages simultaneously: poor health, malnutrition, lack of water and sanitation, electricity, precarious employment, etc.

In this article, we present the results of a recent study that proposes strategies for measuring poverty in segregated cities in a multidimensional way. Learn the results here.

5. Have you ever been discriminated against?

At the IDB, we work to improve the lives of all Latin Americans and Caribbeans. That’s why we are researching the discrimination of different vulnerable groups in various areas. For what purpose? We want to understand how to reduce discrimination and maximize the development opportunities for the most disadvantaged population in the region.

This blog post marks the beginning of a series of articles where we will explain our progress in these studies. Would you like to know some of our results so far?

Continue reading here.

6. How would cities be if they were designed by children and teenagers?

Cities have been and are planned and designed by adults, and the result is not always a child and teenager-friendly city. So, why not ask children and teenagers what they like or want to change in their neighborhood and city?

Discover (in Spanish) what a city would be like if it were designed by children and teenagers here.

7. Bilbao Ría 2000: urban regeneration through local self-financing strategies

The Bilbao estuary is a benchmark for urban regeneration through self-financing strategies. In this article, which is part of a series on subnational financing, we explain how the joint work between public administrations allowed, through strategies for capturing added value, to recover investments and turn the Bilbao estuary into a model of urban regeneration at the European level.

Get all the details here.

8. Why are real estate funds a good alternative to finance urban renewal projects?

One of the main challenges our cities face is obtaining sufficient financial resources to provide their public services adequately. Throughout the year, we have been sharing various alternatives, such as strengthening fiscal capacity, diversifying sources of financing, attracting private sector investments, or improving planning and project execution to promote sustainable urban development.

In this article, we want to continue offering financing alternatives to cities in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). Therefore, we will explain why real estate funds, despite being an instrument used sparingly in LAC urban development projects, have significant potential to contribute to the renewal of our cities’ infrastructure.

Continue reading here.

9. Healthy Cities: your postal code affects your health more than your genetic code

We often associate chronic diseases with habits such as diet, lack of physical exercise, smoking, or hereditary factors. However, the factor that most influences health is the environment in which we live, and circumstances such as poverty, lack of decent housing, overcrowding, environmental safety, or exclusion or distance from basic services have a very negative impact on it.

The IDB’s Urban and Housing Development Division, through its Cities Laboratory, produced a documentary to analyze the important relationship between urban planning and health.

Discover all the details here.

10. Proposals to implement Transit-Oriented Development in Lima

The sustainable development of cities in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) depends on Transit-Oriented Development (TOD). Still, don’t know what TOD is? Don’t worry; in this blog, we will explain it, and also show how in Peru, with the support of the IDB, the first steps are being taken to start implementing it.

Continue reading here.


Filed Under: Cities LAB, Housing, Sustainable development, Urban economics, Urban society Tagged With: climate change, housing, Inclusive Cities, sustainability, urban development, Urban Inequality, urban planning

Daniel Peciña-López

Daniel Peciña-Lopez is a specialist in international affairs, external relations and communication. He has more than 10 years of professional experience in diplomatic delegations, and international organizations in cities such as Washington DC, New York, Chicago, Madrid, Mexico City and Hong Kong, among others. Daniel is Master of International Affairs from Columbia University, Master of Science from the University of Oxford Brookes and Licenciado from Universidad Complutense de Madrid. In 2010 Daniel received the First National Award for Excellence in Academic Performance, from the Ministry of Education (Government of Spain) for being the university level student with the highest average GPA score in the country. He currently works as an external relations/communication consultant at the Inter-American Development Bank.

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Este es el blog de la División de Vivienda y Desarrollo Urbano (HUD) del Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo. Súmate a la conversación sobre cómo mejorar la sostenibilidad y calidad de vida en ciudades de América Latina y el Caribe.

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