Urban areas in the Global South now house most of the world's urban population and are projected to house almost all its increase between now and 2030. There is a growing recognition that the scale of urban poverty has been overlooked - and that it is increasing both in numbers and in the proportion of the world's poor population that live and work in urban areas.

This is the first book to review the effectiveness of different approaches to reducing urban poverty in the Global South. It describes and discusses the different ways in which national and local governments, international agencies and civil society organizations are seeking to reduce urban poverty. Different approaches are explored, for instance; market approaches, welfare, rights-based approaches and technical/professional support. The book also considers the roles of clientelism and of social movements. Case studies illustrate different approaches and explore their effectiveness. Reducing Urban Poverty in the Global South also analyses the poverty reduction strategies developed by organized low-income groups especially those living in informal settlements. It explains how they and the federations or networks they have formed have demonstrated new approaches that have challenged adverse political relations and negotiated more effective support. Local and national governments and international agencies can become far more effective at addressing urban poverty at scale by, as is proposed in this book, working with and supporting the urban poor and their organizations.

This book will be an invaluable resource for researchers and postgraduate students in urban development, poverty reduction, urban geography, and for practitioners and organisations working in urban development programmes in the Global South.

About the Author
David Satterthwaite is a Senior Fellow at IIED and a Visiting Professor at the Development Planning Unit, University College, London, UK. Diana Mitlin is an economist and social development specialist working at the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), and a Professor at the University of Manchester, UK, working at the Global Urban Research Centre, the Institute for Development Policy and Management and the Brooks World Poverty Institute.

Reviews

This important book is the first systematic study to compare and evaluate the wide range of paradigms underlying recent efforts to mitigate urban poverty, and makes an eloquent empirical and analytic case for the importance of poor urban communities in defining, catalyzing and implementing reducing urban poverty. It is indispensable for all policy-makers, scholars and activists concerned with urban poverty and inequality in the cities of our world.

-Arjun Appadurai, New York University, USA

A comprehensive handbook on how to reduce urban poverty - invaluable for students, teachers, policy actors and agencies wanting to understand and help cities and communities. The authors are brilliantly equipped to steer us all towards better outcomes for low-income urban settlements.

-Anne Power, London School of Economics, UK

Book Information
ISBN 9780415624640
Author David Satterthwaite
Format Paperback
Page Count 306
Imprint Routledge
Publisher Taylor & Francis Ltd
Weight(grams) 492g