How to promote equality in the cities

Currently, over 80 percent  of the total population of Latin America lives in cities. During the past decades, urbanization has impacted the quality of life and the competitiveness of cities. However, an important number of major Latin American cities must face social, spatial, environmental, and equity challenges in order to reduce exclusion and inequality.

Some cities have included innovative solutions on their national agendas as a priority for social and economic spending, incentives for consumption, and short term employment that has had an influence on regional development.

An example is Lima, where relationships have been promoted with different social players, alliances have been established with other government levels, and different forms of growth have been coordinated.

The publication " Construction of more equitable cities. Public policies for inclusion in Latin America", published by ONU Hábitat and CAF, Development Bank of Latin America, highlights that the cities have become "vectors" of change because they can remodel growth and reorganize development. In that context UN Habitat has identified three principles to promote equity in cities:

• Sustainable urban planning: allows for cities to be better prepared to reduce inequalities and promote shared prosperity for their inhabitants.
• Laws and institutions for equality: urban right defines the "rules of the game" for all interested parties, promotes an accountability system, and facilitates urban inclusion.
• Create economic opportunities: The dynamic potential of the cities must be planned, directed, and used by coordinating the efforts between local governments and private and non-State players in the cities, in order to identify and capitalize on the distinctive characteristics, create new opportunities, and promote economic development with integrating growth.