Just Cities

Overview

We support innovations to reduce poverty, expand economic opportunity and advance social justice in Global South cities, making them more equitable and sustainable homes for billions of people.

The Challenge

Most of the world’s people now live in cities, and migration to urban areas will continue on a large scale throughout this century. With urbanization comes potential for progress, including improved standards of living, higher levels of education for women and girls, and lower infant mortality. But while we see the promise of cities being realized in some areas, many people still contend with substandard housing, poor infrastructure, unsafe and unsanitary conditions, and significant social isolation that inhibits their economic opportunities. By 2030, the number of people living in slum settlements in the Global South is expected to roughly double—a situation that will impact not only those living in the settlements, but the entire cities of which they are a part.

The struggles of urban transformation—from the need for basic services to the rising demands of a growing middle class—will test countries’ capacities to foster prosperity, social justice, sustainability and resilience. How the world’s cities, villages and settlements choose to grow and improve the places where people live, work and play will have an impact on every other aspect of their society’s life, from economic opportunity to public safety to climate change.

Much progress has been made in establishing public consensus on basic rights, such as the right to adequate housing, and the right for people to participate in decision making about their community's future. However, cities also need the capacity and technical expertise to effectively implement well-intentioned policies and to solve thorny challenges, from traffic to job creation.

What We’re Doing

We support civil society organizations, social movement groups, practitioners, researchers, public and private sector partners, and other stakeholders to realize equitable, sustainable, and prosperous Global South cities. To achieve this goal, we focus on the fields that are driving metropolitan growth and change—urban planning, housing and transportation infrastructure—and enable efforts to weave inclusivity into the socio-economic, cultural and physical fabric of a city.

All of our work begins with the challenge of making urban growth more socially inclusive, in terms of both processes and outcomes. How can we make current models for urban growth more equitable and attentive to the needs of the poor? How can huge investments in infrastructure, development, and construction be leveraged to create shared benefits in the form of decent work, safe living conditions and access to opportunities? How can we build truly just cities, shaped by fairness, opportunity and a commitment to shared prosperity?

Learn more about how our strategies and approaches shape our grant making.

Video

Watch a video from the foundation’s Just City conference, which explored how to create cities defined by fairness, opportunity and equity.

What We're Following

• Acting Director Don Chen on Twitter: @donchennyc
• Making Participatory Processes Work in Urban Upgrading: Innovations and Challenges from Asia
• What Narendran Modi, India’s Likely Next Prime Minister, Will Mean for Cities
• CitiScope’s World Urban Forum blog
• Kaid Benfield’s blog—and his book, “People Habitat”
• The International Issue of Governing Magazine
• Who Will Plan Africa’s Cities? Changing the Way Urban Planning is Taught in African Universities
• A video from Shack/Slum Dwellers International about participatory slum upgrading and enumeration efforts
• Urban experts weigh in on the proposed “Cities and Human Settlements Goal,” competing for a place among the final United Nations Sustainable Development Goals From the Nature of Cities blog
• Medellín's Metamorphosis Provides a Beacon for Cities across the Globe World Urban Forum commentary by Joseph Stiglitz

Regions

Team

• Don Chen
  Director
• Ana Marie Argilagos
  Senior Advisor

From the Newsroom

• Foundation Appoints Don Chen New Director of Metropolitan Opportunity
  New director will lead the foundation’s work on equitable urban development in the U.S. and developing world