Expert Voices 2020: Improving Access to Cities

Urban areas are still expanding across the globe, particularly in low- and moderate-income countries, where the youth population is exploding. At the same time, urban inequality is growing and, in some cases, so is civil unrest. For example, marginalized populations are protesting in Santiago, Paris, and elsewhere, ostensibly stimulated by increased transportation fees; but in reality, these groups are exhibiting general unease about their current and future quality of life.

We asked our respondents why and how access to the city is important for jobs, economic growth, and intergenerational mobility and how can it be improved. The answers ranged from education and job training, encouraging entrepreneurship, increased infrastructure, multi-modal mobility corridors, to “seedbanks for innovation” and ground up community answers, encapsulated in the phrase “collective efficacy.”

—Eugénie Birch and Susan Wachter, Co-Directors, Penn Institute for Urban Research

Improving Access to Cities

NYC’s Green New Deal: Moving Toward A Fair and Just City | Penny Abeywardena

On Inclusion and Inequality in Cities of Tomorrow | Nikhil Anand

Leveraging Diversity for Thriving Cities | Ana Marie Argilagos

Cities and the Young | Kyung-Hwan Kim

Managing Urban Growth: Practical Solutions to Three Global Challenges | John D. Landis

Addressing the Twin Challenges of Inequality and Violence | Robert Muggah

Lower-Income City Residents Need Affordable, Reliable Access to Good Jobs | Victor Rubin & Angela Glover Blackwell

We Are Not Ready for Climate Change | Saskia Sassen

Focus on Affordable Housing, Universal Healthcare, and Living Wage Policy | Lisa Servon

City Leaders Should Expand Educational and Training Programs | Frederick (Fritz) Steiner