ABSTRACT
Many city leaders and national governments assume that slum growth is a natural consequence of urban growth – that as cities grow economically, and as incomes improve, slums will disappear naturally over time. However, evidence indicates that innovative and inclusive policies and institutions that are tailor-made to local needs have a key role to play in determining whether slums will grow, whether they will be upgraded or whether they will be ignored in national development plans and policies. In this section, we use policy evidence drawn from the experiences of 23 countries analyzed in 2005/6 and another survey of 52 cities in 21 countries conducted by UN-HABITAT and the Cities Alliance more recently to understand the impact of policies on bridging the divided city.
