Publications
Changing Cities: Climate, Youth, and Land Markets in Urban Areas
The number of urban slum dwellers worldwide is staggering. According to UN-Habitat, 827.6 million people live in slums around the world. Despite meeting a Millennium Development Goal to significantly improve the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers by 2020, the total number of people living in these areas still increased by 55 million between 2000 and 2010. By 2020, the world slum population is projected to reach 889 million. With the majority of people now living in cities, urban priorities are synonymous with human security and environmental sustainability and must be accounted for in the global development agenda. The result of the third annual paper competition co-sponsored by CUSP, USAID, IHC, the World Bank, and Cities Alliance, the chapters in this publication highlight the new research and innovative thinking of the next generation of urban planners, practitioners, and policymakers.
After the Disaster: Rebuilding Communities
This report draws from the dialogue and seminar papers shared at an April 2011 meeting co-hosted by the Wilson Center and the Fetzer Institute to explore how best to respond to disasters. Highlighting the complex nature of disaster response and exploring ways to overcome the inherent tension between those responding to disasters and the local community, the discussion centered on how to identify the strengths of a community and use technology to better engage the local community and provide effective, sustainable relief.
Reducing Urban Poverty: A New Generation of Ideas
The world faces an unprecedented urban expansion with projections for the global urban population reach nearly 5 billion by the year 2030. Virtually all of this growth will occur in the developing world where cities gain an average of 5 million residents every month. Failure to incorporate urban priorities into the global development agenda carries serious implications for human security, global security, and environmental sustainability. The result of the second annual paper competition co-sponsored by CUSP, USAID, IHC, the World Bank, and Cities Alliance, the chapters in this publication highlight the new research and innovative thinking of the next generation of urban planners, practitioners, and policymakers.
Does Participatory Governance Matter?
This publication presents workshop conclusions about the impact of participatory governance on the lives of citizens, the organization of civil society, the contours of state reform, and most broadly, the quality of democracy. Authors Brian Wampler and Stephanie McNulty offer case studies, policy recommendations, and a new research agenda that will reshape our understanding of the role participatory institutions can play in improving democracies and public life. MORE
Urban Diversity: Space, Culture, and Inclusive Pluralism in Cities Worldwide
As the world's urban populations grow, cities become spaces where increasingly diverse peoples negotiate such differences as language, citizenship, ethnicity and race, class and wealth, and gender. Using a comparative framework, Urban Diversity examines the multiple meanings of inclusion and exclusion in fast—changing urban contexts.
Washington's U Street: A Biography
http://www.wilsoncenter.org/dialogue-program/washingtons-u-street-biography
The audio version can be found here.
This book traces the history of the U Street neighborhood in Washington, D.C., from its Civil War–era origins to its recent gentrification.
Our Shared Future: Environmental Pathways to Peace
This report draws from the dialogue and seminar papers shared at a January 2010 meeting co-hosted by the Wilson Center and the Fetzer Institute to explore the affect of globalization on natural resource issues such as water on local, national, and international levels. Examining the effect of environmental peacebuilding on communities, the discussion explored how governments, NGOs, the private sector, and other interested parties can generate positive outcomes while minimizing negative ones.
Eurasian Migration Papers
A series of reports, produced jointly by the Kennan Institute and the Comparative Urban Studies Program of the Woodrow Wilson Center, that examines migrant communities in Eurasian cities.