Cityscape of Change: How Urbanization Shapes Democracy

After decades of rapid urbanization that has transformed the very nature of human life on earth, the research from the World Back highlights that more than half of the world’s population now lives in urban areas. Cities represent both challenges and opportunities for good governance and human development. With up to 80 percent of the world’s population expected to live in cities by 2050, it is critically important to design programming that effectively supports cities and urban governments to achieve democratic outcomes. However, the potential of cities to contribute to democracy is both under-studied and under-discussed. This edition of the Learning Digest presents current research on the ways that strong urban governance contributes to healthy democracies, USAID’s role in supporting democracies through urban development, and how we measure these objectives.