Urban and Spatial Economics and Analytics Global Solutions Group (GSG) - Summary of Activities

Overview & Synopsis

During the course of the ASA, the Analytics GSG and its members undertook activities that served to push the knowledge boundaries to inform the Bank’s policy and operational dialogue. The activities had a strong focus on two main agendas: (i) the jobs agenda; and (ii) the livable cities agenda. On the former, this included through the development of a “Cities for Jobs and Growth” framework to help guide URL’s engagement, both internally at the global and regional levels, and externally, on the agenda. It also included the initiation of flagship reports, both of which have undergone successful QERs, on cities for jobs and economic growth for both the Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and Middle East North Africa, Afghanistan and Pakistan (MENAPP) regions. Meanwhile, on the livable cities agenda, the team contributed to the corporate Reboot Development: The Economics of a Livable Planet flagship report and supported the preparation of new Unlivable reports on extreme urban heat for both the Europe and Central Asia (ECA) and Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) regions.