Urban governance in fragile cities Robert Muggah July 2016 The planet is urbanising at a rapid pace. There is no agreed definition of what constitutes a city, however the world´s new geography includes dozens of super cities (population of 40 million+), hyper-cities (population of at least 20 million), conurbations and more. While a number of the world’s largest cities still reside in North America and Western Europe, most future population growth will occur in sprawling cities and slums of Africa and Asia. There are tremendous opportunities and threats, with major implications for th...

Public sector organisations have always looked for new ways to fulfill their public mission. The New Deal in the United States, the rebuilding of Europe after the Second World War, the development of the welfare state, experiments in New Public Management, the rise of e-government have all been phases of great change in public administrations, when governments experimented with new ideas, policies, processes, institutional arrangements, management tools and technologies, to create public value and effect positive change. Each of the above examples can be broken apart to expose a great numbe...

Youth and Jobs Katherine V. Gough April 2016 When jobs are scarce it is young people who are hit the hardest as they are either unable to enter the workplace or are the first to be fired. According to the World Bank (2015), one third of the world’s 1.8 billion young people are not in employment, education or training (NEET), and only 40% of youth who enter the job market within the next decade will be able to get jobs that currently exist. While unemployment statistics are notoriously unreliable, youth unemployment is up to four times higher than the corresponding rate for adults. This...