Cities Transformed Demographic Change and Its Implications in the Developing World (2003) / Chapter Skim
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10. Looking Ahead
10. Looking Ahead
Pages 410-418
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From page 410... ...
Although demographers have given attention to migration, they have otherwise left unexamined the implications of city life for demographic behavior in poor countries. It is here that the intellectual tools being honed in research on the United States and other rich countries can be applied the concepts of multilevel analysis, social networks, neighborhood effects, social capital, and diffusion; and the array of measures used to understand the spatial expressions of segregation.
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From page 411... ...
Poor neighborhoods typically suffer from grossly inadequate public infrastructure and services, lower school enrollment rates, less control over fertility, higher risks during pregnancy, lower levels of nutrition, and higher rates of mortality. Spatial segregation and the spatial concentration of poverty are likely to be just as important in the cities of poor countries as in those of the United States.
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From page 412... ...
More Spatially Disaggregated Data With the spread of democratization and government decentralization now under way in much of the world, local administrations are increasingly being required to operate with the speed and efficiency of private business while facing ever more complex political and regulatory environments. Local governments must digest an immense amount of information to perform their duties in a fair and efficient manner.
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From page 413... ...
For instance, maps of Accra and Sao Paulo showing cross-district differentials in health and environmental conditions generated considerable local debate and some policy changes in both of these cities (Stephens, Akerman, Avle, Maia, Campanareio, Doe, and Tetteh, 1997~. Such maps can inform neighborhood residents and the politicians who represent them, providing an empirical basis for claims upon national and local resources (as occurred in London, where Charles Booth mapped social and economic differentials in the late nineteenth century)
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From page 414... ...
The data assembled by the United Nations Population Division and summarized in World Urbanization Prospects, for example, form the basis for much international research on urban and city growth. Unfortunately, these data have not yet been placed in the public domain.
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From page 415... ...
Computerize the United Nations Demographic Yearbook. We encourage the United Nations to release the city population data contained in its Demographic Yearbook as a computerized database with identifying codes that would permit the linkage of each city's data across years.
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From page 416... ...
The broader research community could assist in evaluating and refining projection methods if the data used by the United Nations Population Division were made publicly available. Presumably, such data could be included in the Demographic Yearbook database mentioned above, so that all available population series for cities could be obtained from a single unified source.
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From page 417... ...
The challenge over the next 30 years, however, will be to take full advantage of the potential benefits of urbanization. Richer data will be required to illuminate the situations of the urban poor, and new concepts and methods will be needed to understand the changing demography of place not only between rural and urban areas, but also across the urban spectrum and within large urban agglomerations.
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From page 418... ...
The data assembled by the United Nations Population Division and summarized in World Urbanization Prospects, for example, form the basis for much international research on urban and city growth. Unfortunately, these data have not yet been placed in the public domain.
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