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This publication reports on some of the health challenges facing cities. It aims to serve as a guide for public managers and decision makers optimize the great potential of cities to improve the well-being of those who reside in the cities of Latin America and the Caribbean. It is organized in two parts. The first part, Health Inequalities in Latin American Cities, focuses on identifying the ways in which social inequality has led to negative health outcomes, in order to make visible the relevance of the challenge of inequality and the urgency to grapple with it. The second part, Urban Policies for Healthy Cities, focuses on how cities can contribute to improving the health standards in their population. The publication addresses critical issues for urban health, such as the interdependence between physical-social factors and health, the relationship between urban characteristics and the incidence of COVID-19, the connections between social inequality and exposure to pollution environment, the relationship between urban planning and gender violence, the power of urban interventions -such as public transport and social housing- to improve health indicators, and the relevance of having good data to improve the accessibility of health systems. All the contributions in this book are based on data and rigorous research, and present real cases of the cities of the region.

There is no need to justify building cities to benefit all users. Building cities considering only the needs of a fraction of their urban residents is what needs to be justified. And yet, we have grown accustomed to cities urban public spaces and services planned, designed, and built ignoring the needs of people with disabilities, of small children and their caretakers, and of elders, thus limiting access for these groups. Against this background, this monograph aims to advance urban planning practices that can effectively contribute to enabling people with disabilities, children, and elders access to the opportunities for work, socialization, and enjoyment that cities offer. That is, urban forms and urban systems that are purposefully shaped to allow people access to parks and public spaces and transportation systems, and to actively participate in civic life, regardless of their level of ability. For that purpose, the monograph is organized in two parts. Part one provides context to the evolution of the conversation on people with disabilities, particularly from the perspective of cities in LAC. Part two is a compendium of case studies on cities that have built spaces and transit systems that help remove the barriers that people with disabilities, elders, and small children face in cities.

New York City's success in providing high-quality, sustainable, ecologically productive and equity-promoting parks in recent years presents a number of important lessons for cities in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). This publication is a review of four innovative strategies that have emerged in New York City to add to and maintain the citys park portfolio and how can New York City serve as a useful case with lessons to consider for providing parks in LAC. Cities across LAC face mounting challenges in the provision of public green space. Currently, a majority of LAC cities fall short of providing the World Health Organizations recommended minimum of 9m2 of green space per resident. Residents in cities across the region also face barriers to accessing parks and many are of poor or declining quality. The underlining social economic inequality and spatial segregation in many LAC cities is also reflected in the uneven distribution of parks and other green spaces. For cities in the region, the challenge is one of quantity, quality, and spatial distribution. The political dynamics, institutional arrangements, financial mechanisms, design strategies, and maintenance programs that have proven critical to enabling NYCs recent innovations, therefore, bear a number of lessons for cities across LAC.

The IDB's Institutional Strategy prioritizes social inclusion, productivity, and regional economic integration by addressing cross-cutting issues of gender equity and diversity, climate change, and environmental sustainability, and institutional capacity and governance, which must be integrated into operations and cooperation carried out with all the relevant actors. Through the 2022 HOUSING FORUM, we seek the revitalization of public-private sector investments and co-financing with our relevant executors in the ministries of urban development and housing in LAC, national housing agencies, private developers, banks and financial institutions to promote new strategies that promote access to inclusive, resilient, low-carbon and affordable housing solutions.

The study "Gender gaps in access to the mortgage market in Ecuador" analyzes the access of women in conditions of poverty and moderate poverty to obtain a home loan in the formal financial system, the dimensioning and characterization of critical nodes and potentialities (supply and demand), qualifying the current demand and the type of housing for which credit is granted; as well as the identification and characterization of the main challenges faced by women in the granting, the level of exclusion, the credit behavior and the practices and conceptions of financial institutions (IFIs) that offer housing credit, from which the present conclusions and establish recommendations that contribute to narrowing the identified gender gaps, contributing to the implementation of projects and public housing policy in the country.

Favela Bairro (FB) was a pioneer approach for integrating informal neighborhoods with the urban grid, and it remains today a reference for many developing countries. FB in its second phase (FB II) ran between 2000 and 2008 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and it significantly improved the access in 88 favelas to water supply, storm water and sewage systems, street pavement, sidewalks public lighting, and community facilities such as day care centers, schools, recreational and sport areas. This document revisits the neighborhoods improved through FB II with the purpose of learning the long-term challenges that upgraded neighborhood programs face. The research presented here was done in two parts carried out in parallel: (1) a qualitative study based on focus groups to capture the perception of direct beneficiaries on the upgrades; and (2) an standardized assessment of the state of maintenance of the infrastructure 88 favelas upgraded by FB II. Both parts of the research showed that improvements achieved through FB II had dissimilar longevity. Focus groups identified improvement in residents living standards immediately after the upgrades, but current issues with sewers, electricity, public lighting and streets. The standardized assessment found issues with streets pavement and drainage systems in one out of three upgraded favelas, and poor street lighting and sewers in two out of three. This research offers important lessons to improve the long-term sustainability of urban upgrading programs.

This document elaborates on gender related challenges in urban planning and governance from three major perspectives regarding womens access to city space and resources: service, political, and economic accessibility. First of all, in the absence of gender-sensitive urban planning, women can see their access to services restricted by limited access to land and affordable housing due to discriminatory legal and cultural constraints, increased disease burden due to the lack of adequate basic services, and limited mobility due to safety issues and to the costs incurred in using public transportation. As for political accessibility, there is an array of specific barriers and vulnerabilities that women face in the form of gender-based discrimination that results in unequal community and public participation, and limited access to information. Gender inequality also limits women's access to economic resources and opportunities, and the possibility for them to realize their full potential in the job market, either as salaried workers or as entrepreneurs. As urbanization usually does not provide the same benefits to individuals from different genders, this paper gives practical recommendations for national and local governments on how to mainstream gender in urban planning, regulations and governance to promote cities that are inclusive and cohesive.

Over the course of the 20th century the worlds population grew more than during any other period in history, increasing from around 1.5 billion people in 1900 to nearly seven billion people today. Given this exponential growth, it is essential to reflect o n what we have done to house this growing populationor what residents have done to procure housing on their own. According to the numbers, we have been capable of building enough housing to compensate for the quantitative deficit; t he biggest challenge we face today is to how to make qualitative changes to the existing housing stock. Population growth continues to be strong in the emerging economies of the Global South, and exploring the potential of housing to transform the urban fabric is critical to building better cities.This project by the Housing and Urban Development Division of the IDB is an invitation to make strategic use of lessons learned, to imagine new solutions and possibilities, and to bring a renewed agenda to housing and urban development in the years to come.

Las mujeres que residen en ciudades de América Latina y el Caribe cuentan con acceso a mejores niveles de ingresos que aquellas que residen en áreas rurales. Sin embargo, estos niveles están todavía por debajo de los hombres que residen en áreas urbanas. Además, varios de los servicios de las ciudades, como los recorridos de transporte público, no atienden adecuadamente las necesidades de las mujeres que las habitan, principalmente en aquellos casos en que realizan tareas familiares y del cuidado del hogar; al tiempo que la gran mayoría de las mujeres expresan sentirse inseguras en el transporte público. Las mujeres enfrentan desigualdades persistentes en el acceso a la participación vinculante y la representación en la gobernanza urbana. Es en este contexto y con el propósito de promover una urbanización inclusiva y productiva, que presentamos cuatro casos de estudio sobre experiencias concretas e innovadoras en El Salvador, España, Japón y México. El caso de El Salvador muestra la experiencia de fundación del transporte por y para mujeres, Línea Rosa, la experiencia de las conductoras y la utilidad del servicio en San Salvador. El caso de Japón revela un plan urbano integral implementado por la Ciudad de Nagareyama ante la crisis fiscal generada por su decreciente población, para promover el desarrollo socioeconómico de las madres y el bienestar de familias. El caso de México trata de la experiencia de incluir una visión de género en las políticas de vivienda y en la industria de la construcción a través de una asociación civil de México, Mujeres Lideres por la Vivienda. El caso de España revela una iniciativa de Ciudad de las Mujeres, en la cual se trabaja con el arte y cartografías para mostrar las huellas de las mujeres en la historia de la ciudad de Madrid mediante una aplicación.

The People's Republic of China (China) and countries in Latin America face similar challenges in their cities. Their convergence is a consequence of the speed at which they have become urbanized. Although in China urbanization has occurred later, faster, and more massively than in Latin America, both cases imply a large migration of rural inhabitants to urban areas. In China and Latin America, the move to urban centers has meant significant social and economic improvement for the migrating population. In parallel, there has been a significant increase in the demand for urban services, often beyond the capacity of national and subnational governments. This publication is a summary of the presentations at the first Latin America-China Policy and Knowledge Summit relating to the impacts of rapid urbanization and national prosperity, held in Lima, Peru, on July 15-16, 2014, and co-organized by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Ministry of Housing, Construction, and Sanitation of Peru, and Inter-American Development Bank.