9th World Bank-GWU Conference on Urbanization & Poverty Reduction (in Cape Town; co-organized with the City of Cape Town & the IGC)
11-12 June 2025
Daily life in Conakry, Guinea on December 3, 2014. Photo © Dominic Chavez/World Bank. Link to the license: Click here.
The 9th Urbanization and Poverty Reduction Conference will bring together academics and development practitioners to present and discuss questions relating to "Urban Economics in Action: Addressing African Cities' Challenges".
The policy-focused research conference day will take place on June 11-12, 2025 and will be hosted by the City of Cape Town, the World Bank (Development Research Group and Urban, Disaster Risk, Resilience, and Land), George Washington University (Elliott School of International Affairs and Institute for International Economic Policy), and the International Growth Centre (Cities that Work and Cities Research Program). The Young Urban Economist Workshop and more technical conference will take place on June 12, 2025.
Conference organizers:
Harris Selod (The World Bank)
Remi Jedwab (George Washington University)
Hugh Cole (Director of Policy and Strategy for the City of Cape Town)
Victoria Delbridge (International Growth Centre)
Oliver Harman (International Growth Centre)
Tanner Regan (George Washington University)
Roman David Zarate (The World Bank)
8th World Bank-GWU Conference on Urbanization and Poverty Reduction
7-8 March 2024
A "red devil" bus in Panama City; these buses are being phased out in favor of the Metrobus system. Panama. Photo: Gerardo Pesantez / World Bank. Link to the license: Click here.
The 8th Urbanization and Poverty Reduction Conference will bring together academics and development practitioners to present and discuss questions relating to Urban expansion and the future spatial organization of cities.
The theme is of increasing importance to academics and policy makers alike as the supply of ideas and demand for solutions grow. Cities in developing countries are growing at faster rates and at lower income levels than those in developed country alternatives. If well-directed and well-managed, expansion and densification of urban areas can bring economic growth while also offering poverty reduction opportunities. If poorly directed and managed, the result can be congestion, contagion, and contraction.
Planning for the cities of tomorrow is thus a crucial task, but one benefitting from a multi-disciplinary approach. This edition of the conference will draw from economists and other scholarly communities at the interface of policy and research to understand which new ideas, new methods, and new collaborations can bring about the change necessary for development.
The policy-focused research conference day will take place on March 7, 2024 and is hosted by the World Bank (Development Research Group and Urban, Disaster Risk, Resilience, and Land), George Washington University (Elliott School of International Affairs and Institute for International Economic Policy), the International Growth Centre (Cities that Work and Cities Research Program), and Millennium Challenge Corporation. The Young Urban Economist Workshop and more technical conference will take place on March 8, 2024.
Conference organizers:
Harris Selod (The World Bank)
Remi Jedwab (George Washington University)
Victoria Delbridge (International Growth Centre)
Oliver Harman (International Growth Centre)
Tanner Regan (George Washington University)
Mesbah Motamed (Millenium Challenge Corporation)
Roman David Zarate (The World Bank)
7th World Bank-GWU Conference on Urbanization and Poverty Reduction
7-8 March 2024
Bicyclist ride the streets of Bogotá, Colombia on January 11, 2016. Photo © Dominic Chavez/World Bank. Link to the license: Click here.
The 7th Urbanization and Poverty Reduction Research Conference will bring together academics and development practitioners to present and discuss questions relating to Climate Change and Sustainable Cities.
This theme is of increasing importance to academics and policy makers alike, with climate change presenting cities with both new challenges and opportunities for improving their livability and productivity. If well-managed, cities offer both adaptation and mitigation benefits—as well as sustainable development opportunities—that other types of human settlement cannot. If poorly managed, the downsides of density may exacerbate strained citizen livelihoods and exacerbate emissions.
Sustainable cities are thus a core part of the long-term shift to a resource- and carbon-efficient development trajectory. An environmentally sustainable and inclusive approach to urbanization is necessary to put economies on track towards green growth and poverty reduction.
The main conference takes place on 30 January and is hosted by the World Bank (Development Research Group), George Washington University (Elliott School of International Affairs and Institute for International Economic Policy) and the International Growth Center (Cities Research Program), with the Young Urban Economist Workshop occurring on 31 January (visit the Workshop tab for details).
Conference organizers:
Harris Selod (The World Bank)
Remi Jedwab (George Washington University)
Victoria Delbridge (International Growth Centre)
Oliver Harman (International Growth Centre)
Tanner Regan (George Washington University)
6th World Bank-GWU Conference on Urbanization and Poverty Reduction
September 09, 2019
A view of Jamestown Fishing Village in Accra, Ghana on October 11, 2015. Photo © Dominic Chavez/World Bank
The 6th Urbanization and Poverty Reduction Conference will bring together academics and development practitioners to present and discuss questions relating to People, Markets, and Cities. In particular, the conference will focus on effective land, housing, transport and local labor market policy in cities and their implications for economic development and social inclusion.
This conference is hosted by the World Bank (Development Research Group), George Washington University (Institute for International Economic Policy), and the Inter-American Development Bank (Housing and Urban Development Division ) and (Department of Research).
Conference organizers:
Rémi Jedwab, George Washington University
Harris Selod, The World Bank
Juan Pablo Chauvin, Inter-American Development Bank
Nora Libertun, Inter-American Development Bank
5th World Bank-GWU Conference on Urbanization and Poverty Reduction
September 07, 2018
World Bank Photo Collection, "High rises and hotel buildings in Punta Pacifica, Panama City, Panama". Photo: Gerardo Pesantez / World Bank
Across the developing world, the growth of cities is outpacing effective policy. Low density land use results in rapidly expanding cities, raising the costs of infrastructure and service provision and limiting liveability and productivity. At the same time, limited investments in transport infrastructure such as roads limits the connectivity between individuals and opportunities that make cities engines for growth. Effective policy to address these challenges requires an understanding of the spatial organisation of cities, and how the distribution of private and public investments across a city affect economic growth.
On 7 September 2018, the 5th Urbanization and Poverty Reduction Conference will bring together academics and development practitioners to present and discuss questions relating to the spatial organisation of cities and economic growth. In particular, the conference will be focusing on effective land and transport policy in cities and the implications of urban development for national growth. This conference is hosted by the World Bank (Development Research Group), George Washington University (Institute for International Economic Policy), the International Monetary Fund, and the International Growth Centre.
Conference organizers:
Rémi Jedwab, George Washington University
Harris Selod, The World Bank
Edward Glaeser, Harvard University and IGC
Chris Papageorgiou, International Monetary Fund
4th World Bank-GWU Conference on Urbanization and Poverty Reduction
September 08, 2017
World Bank Photo Collectiom, "Rapid urbanization in Vietnam". Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Photo: Tran Viet Duc / World Bank.
This conference hosted by the World Bank, George Washington University (Institute for International Economic Policy) and the International Growth Center Cities Program brings together academics and development practitioners to present and discuss the challenges of sustainable urban planning in developing countries.
One of the great challenge of 21st century cities in developing countries is that they must fulfill the requirements of connectivity in production for businesses and address the negative externalities for consumers of density with extremely limited financial resources and public capacity. This raises the following questions: What national policies strengthen and weaken developing world cities, and what infrastructure investments deliver the largest growth benefits? In particular, the aim of this conference will be to reflect upon whether cities in developing countries should focus their efforts on improving their land and housing sector (see Session 1: Land), their transportation networks (see Session 2: Transportation) or their sanitation infrastructure (see Session 3: Public Services). In other words, how can we build, or rebuild, cities in the future in order to promote economic growth and reduce poverty?
Conference organizers:
Rémi Jedwab, George Washington University
Harris Selod, The World Bank
Edward Glaeser, Harvard University and IGC
3rd World Bank-GWU Conference on Urbanization and Poverty Reduction
February 01, 2016
World Bank Photo Collection, "Traffic in Beijing". Beijing, China. Photo: Li Lou / World Bank
This conference hosted by the World Bank, George Washington University (Institute for International Economic Policy), the NYU Marron Institute of Urban Management, the NYU Urbanization Project, and The Growth Dialogue brings together academics and development practitioners to present and discuss the challenges of sustainable urbanization in developing countries.
Addressing environmental change in urban areas is one of the greatest challenges of the 21st century, particularly given that the world is now more than half urban, and Africa and Asia are experiencing unprecedented rates of urban population growth. Cities themselves are a major contributor to this challenge, as they consume an enormous share of the world’s energy and emit large amounts of carbon dioxide. At the same time, they are heavily vulnerable to climate change and increasingly exposed to climate induced risks (including floods from rising sea levels and higher precipitation, destruction from stronger cyclones and storms, and periods of extreme heat and cold). The phenomenon of urbanization itself is also likely to be significantly altered by environmentally induced migration. Despite these risks, many cities have not created or implemented crucially needed policies to attenuate the causes of climate change and to effectively protect cities from its impacts.
Conference organizers:
Harris Selod, The World Bank
Rémi Jedwab, George Washington University
Paul Romer, NYU Urbanization Project
Danny Leipziger, The Growth Dialogue
2nd World Bank-GWU Conference on Urbanization and Poverty Reduction
November 12, 2014
World Bank Photo Collection, "Overlooking the central Kumasi market at closing time in Kumasi, Ghana", June 22, 2006. Photo: Jonathan Ernst / World Bank
This conference hosted by the World Bank, George Washington University (Institute for International Economic Policy), and the Growth Dialogue brings together academics and development practitioners to present and discuss the challenges of urbanization in developing countries.
The world is urbanizing rapidly, with cities today concentrating more than half the world’s population. While it is widely accepted that development and urbanization go hand in hand, the expansion of cities gives rise to both opportunities and challenges, with countries urbanizing in quite different ways. Urbanization has been occurring at different times and different paces, and some countries have concentrated the urban populations in a few mega cities, while others have spread the urban population across many smaller towns. Current patterns of urbanization in developing countries raise a number of challenges such as accompanying structural transformation, providing infrastructure, managing urban spatial expansion, addressing externalities in congestion and pollution, and building effective institutions.
Conference organizers:
Harris Selod, The World Bank
Rémi Jedwab, George Washington University
Somik Lall, The World Bank
Danny Leipziger, The Growth Dialogue
1st World Bank-GWU Conference on Urbanization and Poverty Reduction
May 13, 2013
World Bank Photo Collection, "City view of Bogotá, Colombia" on January 11, 2016. Photo © Dominic Chavez/World Bank
The conference on "Urbanization and Poverty", jointly organized between the World Bank and George Washington University-Institute for International Economic Policy (GWU-IIEP), will bring together academics and development practitioners over two days to discuss the challenges of urbanization in view of rural-urban structural transformation.
The world is urbanizing rapidly, with cities today concentrating more than half the world’s population. While it is widely accepted that development and urbanization go hand in hand, the expansion of cities gives rise to both opportunities and challenges, with countries urbanizing in quite different ways. Urbanization has been occurring at different times and different paces, and some countries have concentrated the urban populations in few mega cities, while others have spread the urban populations across many smaller towns. Particularly little is known about the relation between the pace and nature of the urbanization process and the evolution of inequality and poverty. This conference aims to initiate a dialogue among all stakeholders on the drivers and patterns of urbanization and their consequences for inequality and poverty to elicit key insights for policymakers, with special attention to Africa’s unfolding urbanization process.
Conference organizers:
Luc Christiaensen, The World Bank
Remi Jedwab, George Washington University
James Foster, George Washington University
Peter Lanjouw, The World Bank
Harris Selod, The World Bank