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Cityscape of Change:
How Urbanization Shapes Democracy
DRG Learning Digest | September 2024
After decades of rapid urbanization that has transformed the very nature of human life on earth, the research from the World Back highlights that more than half of the world’s population now lives in urban areas. Cities represent both challenges and opportunities for good governance and human development. With up to 80 percent of the world’s population expected to live in cities by 2050, it is critically important to design programming that effectively supports cities and urban governments to achieve democratic outcomes. However, the potential of cities to contribute to democracy is both under-studied and under-discussed. This edition of the Learning Digest presents current research on the ways that strong urban governance contributes to healthy democracies, USAID’s role in supporting democracies through urban development, and how we measure these objectives.
Percentage of regional populations living in an urban area since 1950, and projected to 2050.
This edition of the DRG Learning Digest examines the following topics:
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Cities have emerged as vibrant spaces for social struggle and democratic progress. In recent years, amidst democratic backsliding and partisan gridlock, cities have demonstrated their potential to drive positive change. Mayors have successfully implemented meaningful climate reforms, with cities like New York, Boston, and Paris becoming national and global leaders in climate commitments. City governments have stood up to authoritarian leaders signing onto the Global Declaration of Mayors for Democracy, a statement so far signed by 207 mayors from 55 countries and evidence suggests that dictatorships in urbanized contexts are more likely to experience regime change. These examples highlight the crucial role cities can play in fostering democratic values and empowering citizens.
However, cities also face significant challenges in establishing governments that contribute to a flourishing democracy. Inequality, poverty, and a lack of economic opportunity are prevalent in many urban areas, exacerbating existing social divisions. Global issues, such as climate change and economic globalization, are often localized in cities, further complicating their governance. The COVID-19 pandemic exemplified how global crises tax social infrastructure in cities. In response, cities are taking a more active and prominent role in addressing political demands both domestically and internationally. They are forming networks to advocate for their interests on the global stage. In major cities, city leaders are national actors and therefore, have an influence over national governance. Because cities are smaller and more localized than national governments, there's a closer connection between state institutions, society, and global issues. This can lead to more sustainable and equitable development.
“[Local and regional governments] are one of the main foundations of any democratic society, as they have democratic mandates, represent the level of government closest to the population and are often able to provide a voice for those who are voiceless.“
— Local and Regional Governments Report by United Cities and Local Governments, page 12.
Despite the challenges, cities can play a vital role in strengthening democracy. They empower citizens by allowing them to advocate for their needs directly, often through local initiatives or referendums using direct democracy. Direct democracy is when citizens participate directly in decision making and is more common in cities than in larger governance units, which can contribute to this sense of empowerment. The greater density of people with shared interests and proximity to political power can reduce the costs of organizing and supporting coordinated public action, which can also contribute to democratic outcomes. This diversity of perspectives can lead to innovative solutions, including new ways to improve democracy.
A pro-democracy protestor in Belarus participates in urban direct democracy. Photo: Jana Shnipelson.
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USAID’s emphasis on working with local partners to strengthen local systems and respond to local priorities necessitates investing in cities and subnational governments. Done strategically, this investment both supports USAID’s commitment to localization and promotes democracy in partner countries, as demonstrated in locally led development research, while supporting other development outcomes such as effective waste, water, and sanitation management. This investment sometimes includes capacity strengthening for mayors and local governments, elevating mayors’ voices in national and international forums, and providing technical assistance to local governments, such as through climate budget tools and strategic planning. Working with citizens to participate in governance can also improve delivery of services and elevate marginalized voices in local governance. In order to support democratic outcomes, it is particularly critical to equip city and local government officials with the knowledge and skills to operate an effective, responsive, transparent, and accountable government.
While research on the direct relationship between investing in local government service delivery and democratic outcomes is limited, there is evidence that poor service delivery can reduce public support for political institutions. In fragile or emerging democracies, this erosion of legitimacy can have particularly severe consequences. Several USAID programs have supported service delivery improvements: the Municipal Waste Recycling Program; the Clean Cities, Blue Ocean program; and the Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene Finance II program allowed USAID to simultaneously invest in service delivery improvements across several localities, amplifying its reach and supporting USAID’s goal of sustainable program benefits through strengthening the capacity of local organizations and governments.
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USAID Clean Cities, Blue Ocean grantee Soneva Namoona carries out waste management audits and activities on four islands in the Maldives — delivering public services while strengthening government capacity. Photo: USAID
Investing in cities and local governments can improve democratic outcomes, but how investments are made matters. When we invest in local governments, people see the benefits faster because these projects are closer to their daily lives. But if we only invest in services without also improving how those services are administered, the diminished results may undermine democratic outcomes.
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A study conducted in select countries that receive U.S. foreign assistance found a lack of tools and resources devoted to urban development and a perception that more U.S. foreign assistance was directed toward rural development, rather than toward cities. In 2023, the United Nations forecast that they would not be able to meet the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 11 on making cities “inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable” by 2030 without changes to global priorities in policy and funding.
There are numerous examples of USAID programs effectively meeting democracy, human rights, and governance (DRG) objectives through support to cities and urban governance which help bring the research to life. USAID programs such as Tu Municipio Responde (TuMUNI) in Ecuador and GOLD+ in Senegal, work to improve responsiveness and service delivery through capacity strengthening and demonstrate the value of urban programming for meeting governance objectives. In Haiti, USAID’s Ansanm Ann Chanje Lavil (Creole for Together Let’s Change the City), or simply LAVIL, is working to both increase local capacity for management of local markets and improve service delivery in those markets, particularly in solid waste management. LAVIL’s activities seek to develop a deeper relationship between the city and civil society by encouraging public participation in market management. Further monitoring, evaluation, and research on projects of this type is needed, and is ongoing in the TuMUNI program where we are evaluating the program’s effect on several municipal-level outcomes, including own-source revenue and citizens’ access to water and sanitation services. This evaluation will contribute to a body of evidence on how best to design city and urban governance programs to achieve long-term DRG objectives.
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USAID TuMUNI is a five-year (2023–2028) project to enhance the capacity of Ecuadoran executive and legislative institutions at the local level to provide effective, inclusive, and citizen-responsive public services, improve access to water and sanitation services in Ecuador, and enhance public trust. Photo: Licet Morillo for the USAID/Ecuador TuMUNI Activity.
USAID’s Urban Resilience Technical Guidance and Democratic Decentralization Programming Handbook provide tools for designing urban programming that meets a variety of human development goals, including democratic outcomes. USAID’s recent Making Cities Work program review found that these investments successfully built local government capacity to provide quality services, took steps to ensure that local governments responded to citizen inputs and demands, and assisted municipalities in amplifying their own-source revenue, in line with the goals of the new DRG Policy. However, the impact of governance interventions on public service provision and democratic outcomes is difficult to measure, and future USAID urban and city programming can contribute to a body of literature on the link between local governance and democratic outcomes through monitoring and evaluation.
“Urbanization deserves urgent attention from policy makers, academics, entrepreneurs, and social reformers of all stripes. Nothing else will create as many opportunities for social and economic progress.”
— Urbanization as Opportunity
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Further Assistance
The DRG Bureau’s Office of Governance is available to provide technical assistance to USAID Missions. This includes support for the implementation of the Urban Resilience Technical Guidance. Please reach out to Kevin Nelson, Urban Governance Lead to learn more about technical assistance, programming, and funding mechanisms at kenelson@usaid.gov.
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Tuesday Group | Money, Power, and Manipulation: The Nexus of Transnational Corruption and Political Finance in Elections (internal to USAID)
Thursday, September 19: 9am – 10am EST.
This Tuesday Group was hosted by the DRG Bureau's Anti-Corruption Center. Richard Nash of IFES explored the links between transnational corruption and political finance, focusing on how illicit finance shapes electoral outcomes and political dynamics. It also examined how corrupt practices fuel political attacks on opponents, create uneven playing fields, and undermine democratic integrity in electoral processes across borders.
DRG E&L Talk Series | Addressing Challenges in Financing Critical Subnational Infrastructure
Tuesday, September 24, 9am—10am EST.
In this talk, Eugenie L. Birch provides an overview of subnational finance, the role of international organizations including the multilateral development banks and bilateral aid agencies in supporting investments, and reviews current suggestions for improving policy and programs in this area.
Webinar | Avoiding pitfalls in USAID Performance Evaluations
Wednesday, September 25, 9am– 10am EST.
Many evaluations and assessments involve a team of researchers conducting a series of key informant and group interviews at one point in time over a three- to four-week period of fieldwork. Yet such studies regularly produce several complaints about accuracy and reliability of the findings and the subsequent usefulness of the study. USAID’s DRG Bureau recently commissioned a study to develop guidance on addressing seven common challenges and pain points in qualitative evaluation work, including: 1) case and site selection for small-n studies; 2) selection of respondents; 3) social desirability bias; 4) qualitative data capture; 5) qualitative data analysis; 6) evidentiary support for statements; and 7) clarity of findings to facilitate use. In this webinar Luis A. Camacho (Social Impact), Kate Marpell-Cantrell (Cloudburst), and Daniel Sabet (USAID/DRG) present study findings and this guidance. The webinar explores each challenge and offers minimum standards and good practices. The presentation concludes with guidance for study commissioners to be followed by a discussion.
Webinar | USAID’s Investments in Cities 2014-2024: Findings from the Making Cities Work Program Review
Wednesday, October 16, 8am–9am EST.
Learn more about the findings from the Investing in Cities Literature and Program Review! This presentation shares the synthesis of the successes, contributors to success, and lessons learned within each of Making Cities Work (MCW) five functional areas (service delivery; local government accountability, transparency, and autonomy; climate change adaptation; disaster resilience; and local government finance, creditworthiness, and borrowing), as well as cross-sectoral integration. Finally, the session provides recommendations for future sustained investments in cities and local governments. MCW enables USAID Missions and Washington Bureaus to address the challenges and opportunities presented by the unprecedented pace of urbanization around the world.
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DRG Learning Digest, a newsletter from DRG Evidence and Learning team, is a series of latest learning, evaluation, and research in Democracy, Human Rights, and Governance. Views expressed in non-USAID publications linked in this Digest do not necessarily represent the views of the United States Agency for International Development or the United States Government.
DRG Evidence & Learning team welcome your feedback on this newsletter and on our efforts to promote the accessibility, dissemination, and utilization of DRG evidence and research.
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