The 50 years of development cooperation failed to address the needs of much of the population in low- and middle-income nations? Among the many competing explanations, one of the most plausible for urban areas is the failure of most development initiatives to consult and work with “the urban poor” in devising locally appropriate solutions – even though these people’s “needs” are the justification for the development initiatives and for all the agencies that fund them, and even though most international agencies claim to support “participation” and to be “pro-poor”. The discussions on how to meet the Millennium Development Goals present a new opportunity to address this. But to date, there is not much evidence that this basic limitation in development is recognized – let alone addressed. This issue of Environment and Urbanization is on how to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in urban areas – both in the locations where those with unmet needs are concentrated (including individual  slums and squatter settlements) and at a city-wide scale. There are hundreds of millions of urban dwellers whose unmet needs for water, sanitation, health care, schools will have to be addressed if the MDG  targets are to be achieved.

These needs will not be met without changes in local governments and in other local organizations. Unlike most discussions on meeting the MDGs, the main focus here is not on large increases in aid or on debt relief or national poverty reduction strategies but, rather, on the local changes on which the achievement of most of the MDGs depend. Local government agencies, or the local offices of higher levels of government, determine whether citizens’ rights are protected and citizen entitlements are met. Their rules and procedures determine whether urban poor households can send their children to school and can afford to keep them there; whether they can obtain treatment when ill or injured; whether they are connected to water, sanitation and drainage networks; whether their neighborhoods have street lights and electricity; whether they can build legally on suitable sites; whether they can avoid eviction; whether they can vote and have access to politicians and civil servants; whether they are protected from violence and crime (and corruption) by a just rule of law; whether they can set up a small enterprise and get a loan to help them do so; whether they can influence development projects.