“Innovative Solutions for Cities” e-Institute’s Cross-Cutting Curriculum

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Focus on Cities: How to Make them Work

Cities are increasingly becoming recognized as the locus of economic and social development. The world has reached a tipping point where half the world’s population is already living in cities. Nearly 2 billion new urban residents are expected in the next 20 years, 90% of them in developing countries.

Gone are the days when urbanization was widely perceived as a problem that must be prevented. There is now an emerging consensus of its benefits as overall, cities provide 70% of global Gross Domestic Product. Cities can be engines of economic growth and expand national and individual prosperity.

However, this potential can only be harnessed if cities are well-planned and well-managed. Local governments in the developing world are typically unprepared to take advantage of the potential of urbanization as well as the complex challenges accompanying this phenomenon. In response, the World Bank Institute is launching the Innovative Solutions for Cities, a set of e-learning courses that helps local government officials navigate through the various facets of urban management.

View These Three Videos

	View video 1: Rationale for the Curriculum and Vision for Cities With Bruno Laporte, Director, Director, WBI Knowledge & Learning and  Christine Kessides, Manager, WBI Urban Development Practice
	View video 2: The "Innovative Solutions for Cities" curriculum, Themes and Issues With Bruno Laporte, Director, WBI Knowledge & Learning and  Neeraj Prasad, Manager of Climate Change
	View video 3: Features and Innovations With Bruno Laporte, Director, WBI Knowledge & Learning and  Christine Kessides, Manager, WBI Urban Development Practice

The Innovative Solutions for Cities - E-Institute’s Cross-Cutting Curriculum

Planning, Finance and Governance. These courses provide the basics of city management for local officials to be able to sufficiently plan and govern their cities amidst rapid urbanization. Sustainable Land Use Planning and Street Addressing and the Management of Cities focus on urban land dynamics, planning principles, and geographic tools for managing urban growth. Municipal Finance provides tools and advice on resource mobilization, asset management and performance measurement.

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Efficient and Inclusive Service Delivery. Well-managed cities provide adequate access and quality of services to its constituents, including weaker segments of society. At the heart of urban poverty is the issue of slums. Upgrading Informal Settlements covers the aspects of designing and managing a slum upgrading intervention. Moreover, the urban poor typically have inferior health, education and other welfare outcomes, given weak access to basic services. Health Systems Management emphasizes implementation of reforms to ensure better and wider access to health services.

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Public Safety and Resiliency. We recognize the importance of minimizing harm and risk to citizens. Introduction to Disaster Risk Management aims to familiarize development practitioners with concepts and practices in disaster management in order to mainstream pro-active risk reduction approaches. On the other hand, Safe Cities: Urban Crime and Violence Prevention offers an integrated methodology to design, implement and evaluate crime and violence prevention strategies at the local level.

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Climate Smart/ Low Carbon Cities. The issue of carbon emissions and impacts caused by changes in the global climate is especially relevant to cities as they account for up to 80% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Cities and Climate Change provides knowledge for city officials to integrate climate mitigation and adaptation interventions in city-wide plans. Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) Program of Action and CDM and Joint Implementation : Navigating the Kyoto Based Mechanisms provides practical knowledge for cities to maximize opportunities afforded by CDM, a scheme that provides incentives for low-carbon emission initiatives. As energy use is the leading source of emissions, we are also offering a learning program on Public Procurement of Energy Efficient Services so that countries can integrate energy efficient technologies in their existing infrastructure as well as future projects and investments.

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Features and Innovations

These courses, as others in the e-Institute, draw on a wealth of knowledge, innovations, and best practices from around the world. Lessons are distilled and packaged into easily accessible formats using cutting-edge instruments, including multimedia.

The e-Institute emphasizes practical, action-oriented learning. Courses move away from “lecture mode” to learner-centric activities where learners play an active role participating in interactive exercises, role-play etc. There is likewise an explicit attempt to create a space for collective learning and sharing of tacit knowledge. Each course has collaborative exercises and projects, and is complemented with e-discussions and online chats.