Investing in Urban Resilience

Protecting and promoting development in a changing world

The Investing report cautions that rising numbers of natural disasters, as well as a growing number of economic, social, and environmental shocks and stresses, pose the greatest risk to rapidly-growing cities. Failing to invest in making cities more resilient to natural disasters, shocks, and stresses will result in significant human and economic damages – with the urban poor bearing the brunt of losses. If high climate impact coincides with inequitable access to basic infrastructure and services, natural disasters will force tens of millions of urban dwellers into extreme poverty and may cost cities worldwide $314 billion each year by 2030, up from around $250 billion today.

The report points to a number of major obstacles limiting resilience investments in many developing cities:

• lack of local government capacity to plan, finance, and implement resilience projects
• challenges in project preparation, including high up-front costs; and
• lack of private-sector confidence.

While governments cannot always address all these obstacles on their own, the report indicates that there are a few things they can do to increase investment in resilience:

• Municipal governments can create a local policy environment that encourages resilience, for instance, by implementing modernised and well-enforced building codes; and
• By creating a pipeline of well-prepared, investor-ready projects, local governments can make it easier and more attractive for investors to fund resilience projects in their cities.