Josef Leitmann

This paper has been prepared for the Urban Management and Environment component of the joint UNDP/World Bank/UNCHS Urban Management Program (UMP). The UMP represents a major approach by the UN family of organizations, together with external support agencies (ESAs), to strengthen the contribution that cities and towns in developing countries make towards economic growth, social development, and the alleviation of poverty. In addition to its environmental focus, the program seeks to develop and promote appropriate policies and tools for land management, infrastructure management, and municipal finance and administration. Through a capacity building component, the UMP plans to establish an effective partnership with national, regional, and global networks and ESAs in applied research, dissemination of information, and experiences of best practices and promising options. This background study is part of a series which will be used, in combination with case studies and research, to develop an overall report on Strategic Options for Urban Environmental Management. Other papers in the series will cover urban waste management and pollution control, regulatory and economic instruments for pollution control, local management of wastes from small-scale and cottage industries, land degradation, and the urban environmental planning and management process. Each is designed to provide background information on key urban development-environmental linkages and/or suggest elements of an environmental management strategy for cities in the developing world. In addition, research reports are being prepared on: (i) the health impacts of urban environmental problems; (ii) the economic spillover effects of urban environmental problems; (iii) urban environmental data collection; and (iv) the application of remote sensing and geographic information systems to urban environmental planning. Finally, case studies on priority urban environmental problems are being prepared for Sao Paulo, Katowice, Tunis, Accra, Jakarta, Tianjin, Chittagong, and the Singrauli region of India. All of these will be inputs to the final paper on strategic options