Shaping urbanization for children: a handbook on child-responsive urban planning UNICEFPage14
safe and healthy urban environment. There
is consistency in the way people migrate to
cities: find an affordable place to live on arrival,
seek employment, work hard and save money,
build a future and climb the social ladder. Local
Government Authorities (LGAs) and public
institutions share responsibility for this process
in various degrees – they facilitate, or sometimes
impede, the accommodation of newcomers.
8
On average, urban dwellers enjoy the urban
advantage in different dimensions: access to and
support of services; economic opportunities;
social structures; governance mechanisms;
and the dynamic urban environment. Yet,
considering the history of urbanization and
urban development, these aspirations can have
two sides, a phenomenon often referred to as
the urban paradox. For example, considering
the economic dimension, cities are the most
important generators of wealth and employment
Figure 3: The urban paradox in four dimensionsServices and economy
Social structures
Access to basic services
Economy
Services for all, proximity, affordability
Diversified local economy and employment, competition and
innovation, social support
Mono-economy, gap labour market, unsafe livelihoods, no
recognition of informal employment
Market driven supply, inaccessibility, unaffordability
Prosperity
Community
Individuals
Shared values, distribution of welfare, diversity
Free social and cultural choices, empowerment,
participation
Protection risks, crime, abuse, isolation
Disrupted kin networks, exclusion of communities, discrimination of groups
Governance mechanisms
Accountability
Decision making
Civic trust, local governance, community representation
Evidence based, consensus based Poor urban data, absence of concertation
Lack of local accountability, corruption, representation
Planning
Risk informed, risk prepared, resilient communities
and infrastructure
Absence of information, unprepared and unadapted infrastruc-
ture, vulnerable communities
Urban environment
Build space
Resource systems
Planned environment, safe and accessible public spaces and
services, shared land value
Sustainable, equitable and reliable distribution and access of
resources, carbon neutrality
Unplanned environment, unsafe and inaccessible services,
absence of land rights and value systems
Unsustainable and unreliable access to resources, high GHG
emissions
Environment
Clean and safe environment, value of green, climate adaptation
and mitigation
Specific environmental threads, pollution, land degradation,
climate change
opportunities Inequity vulnerabilitiesThe Urban Paradox