"As African countries seek to achieve inclusive economic growth to combat poverty, unemployment, inequality and informality, among other challenges, it is imperative that their policies recognize and realize the potential of urbanization. Cities, if well planned and managed, can become engines of structural transformation through the expansion of the productive sectors of the economy, including industries and services. " These were the views expressed by the Head of the Data Centre of the Central Africa Office of the UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) Ms.

In June 2005, demolition crews destroyed hundreds of homes in an impoverished suburb of Mutare, under ‘Operation Murambatsvina’ (Move the Rubbish), the government of Zimbabwe’s campaign to forcibly clear ‘slums’ across the country. Many of those made homeless joined housing cooperatives to collectively purchase land, on which to rebuild their lives, only to have that land taken by Zanu-PF supporters with backing from government ministers.

HEBRON, Israel — Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman granted Aug.

MUMBAI (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Female farmers urged the Indian government on Wednesday to protect their land rights and keep them safe from abuse as women increasingly run farms abandoned by men for jobs in the city.

Women own just 13 percent of land in India although they do two-thirds of all farm work, with ownership largely passing from fathers to sons.

NEW DELHI, Aug 21 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Upgrading slums and giving tenancy rights to residents is key to climate change adaptation and disaster mitigation in India's cities, an analyst said, as the country braces for extreme weather events of greater frequency and intensity.

With 1.3 billion people and densely populated cities, India is particularly vulnerable to damage wrought by drought, cyclones, floods and extreme heat.

"We think it's a crisis when one-in-three households - one-in-three citizens that live in cities - don't have adequate, secure or affordable housing"

TEPIC, Mexico, July 12 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Booming cities in developing nations should upgrade slums, build on underused land and promote rental choice to tackle a fast-growing crisis caused by a shortage of affordable housing, researchers said on Wednesday.

Mumbai's 150-year-old Bhendi Bazaar quarter is embarking on a unique community-led modernisation that could be a model for inner-city redevelopment across India

MUMBAI, June 12 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - All her life, home for Robab Nallwalla has been a one-room flat in central Mumbai, a space she shares with her parents and her brother - and more recently, her brother's wife.

The single room, similar to nine others on the dingy floor with no lift, was cramped and noisy, not a place she could invite friends to.

On December 22, 2016, President Michel Temer revised a law that specifically regularizes urban and rural land owned by the federal government, notably eliminating requirements for upgrading infrastructure on those lands.

By: Rina Chandran

Date: 9 January 2017

Source: Reuters

A commercial painter by trade, K. Raja dreamed of setting up his own business in Surya Nagar slum, in the southern Indian city of Chennai, where he had lived all his life.

But his dream faded last February, when he and about 1,000 other families were evicted with a day's notice and relocated 20 km (12.4 miles) away, their homes demolished.

By: ENS Economic Bureau 

Date: October 15th 2016

Source: The Indian Express

India’s urban system consists of 7,933 cities and towns as of 2011 with a population of 377.16 million. It is now the second largest in the world rising from 5,161 towns and cities in 2001 with a total population of 286.1 million

By: Asit Ranjan Mishra

Date: October 7th 2016

Source: Live Mint

Chandrababu Naidu, at the India Economic Summit, said he wants to make Andhra Pradesh’s capital Amaravati, one of the top five cities in the world