Browse by: "G"

Over the coming years, significant infrastructure investment will be required to sustain economic growth and improve well-being in many regions and cities. Subnational governments will have a key role to help provide this infrastructure - they are responsible for almost 60% of total public investment in G20 countries. This G20-OECD Policy Toolkit, developed with input from the Asian Development Bank, aims to support inclusive and quality infrastructure investment by subnational governments across developing, emerging and developed countries. It outlines key elements of creating an enabling environment for subnational infrastructure investment. It then details common and innovative funding sources, financing instruments and investment approaches. Rather than recommending specific instruments, it provides a ‘toolkit’ of options for policymakers and practitioners. The Policy Toolkit is supported by 23 case studies.

Chile’s planning and governance framework has supported the roll-out of high quality and efficient infrastructure that has been a key enabler of the country’s rapid development over the past two decades. However, changing circumstances such as climate change, decentralisation and a greater focus on social and territorial equity now require a change in how infrastructure needs are identified and addressed. This review examines Chile’s infrastructure stock and governance standards in light of the country’s 2030 growth agenda and OECD benchmarks, and sets out how such change can be achieved, with a special focus on transport and water infrastructure.

Gender equality and environmental goals are mutually reinforcing, with slow progress on environmental actions affecting the achievement of gender equality, and vice versa. Progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) requires targeted and coherent actions. However, complementarities and trade-offs between gender equality and environmental sustainability are scarcely documented within the SDG framework. Based on the SDG framework, this report provides an overview of the gender-environment nexus, looking into data and evidence gaps, economic and well-being benefits, and governance and justice aspects. It examines nine environment-related SDGs (2, 6, 7, 9, 11, 12 and 15) through a gender-environment lens, using available data, case studies, surveys and other evidence. It shows that women around the world are disproportionately affected by climate change, deforestation, land degradation, desertification, growing water scarcity and inadequate sanitation, with gender inequalities further exacerbated by COVID-19. The report concludes that gender-responsiveness in areas such as land, water, energy and transport management, amongst others, would allow for more sustainable and inclusive economic development, and increased well-being for all. Recognising the multiple dimensions of and interactions between gender equality and the environment, it proposes an integrated policy framework, taking into account both inclusive growth and environmental considerations at local, national and international levels.

The Global Compendium of Land Value Capture, a joint project by the OECD and the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, is an ambitious undertaking to understand the full landscape of land value capture (LVC) instruments, how they are configured and deployed across the globe in OECD countries and non-OECD economies, and what it would take to unleash their full potential as a sustainable revenue source. Moreover, little systematic information is available about the LVC instruments that countries use and enabling frameworks at national and regional levels to guide local governments toward greater use. The report features an overview of the political contexts, legal frameworks, and LVC approaches used in 60 countries. Special attention is given to the differences and similarities between countries that have a mature LVC practice, versus countries that have nascent policies and allowances. This will help countries developing the capacity and competences for LVC to understand the opportunities, trade-offs, and pitfalls to avoid when configuring legal, governance, and planning frameworks and institutions to support the implementation of LVC policies.

Global knowledge flows are becoming a key driver of economic development.  How can countries develop effective policies to reap benefits? This report aims to answer this question and highlights these key areas: promoting cross-border alliances involving firms and universities; simulating knowledge transfers from foreign direct investment ventures; attracting highly-skilled workers from overseas and creating vibrant innovation systems.  This book, published in collaboration with Scottish Enterprise, is for policy makers, practitioners and academics.

With two thirds of the world’s population projected to live in urban areas by the middle of this century, the accelerating pace of urbanisation generates crucial opportunities and challenges for sustainable development that reach far beyond city boundaries. Many global processes have recognised the importance of urbanisation as well as the roles and responsibilities of national governments vis-à-vis other urban stakeholders. For instance, urban issues are well articulated in the Agenda 2030, the New Urban Agenda and the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. National urban policies have been identified as being instrumental for governments to coordinate and articulate these global agendas and their own path to sustainable urban development. Global State of National Urban Policy is a first attempt to assess the status of national urban policy development in 150 countries. In the report you will understand why, how and in what forms NUPs have been developed,implemented and monitored globally. The report sets a solid foundation for a common methodology to monitor the progress of NUPs at the global level. Further, it outlines how many countries have an explicit NUP, the focus of the policy in each country, the existence or not of a dedicated urban agency or department, and the capacity available for effective policy making. The report is also a significant contribution to the monitoring and implementation of the New Urban Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals. In it, policy makers, practitioners and academia will find valuable resources and comparisons to inspire more evidence-based urban policy making for sustainable urban development. This work is a joint effort between UN-Habitat and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, and supported by the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology. It is considered to be an important outcome of the National Urban Policy Programme, a global initiative launched by UN-Habitat, OECD and Cities Alliance at the Habitat III Conference in October 2016.

Despite concern about the negative impacts of globalisation on the economies of OECD regions, notably the loss of manufacturing jobs and enterprise relocation, this report presents evidence that region-specific advantages – embedded in specialised firms, skilled labour and innovation capacity – remain a significant source of productivity gain for firms, even for the largest multinational enterprises.  A new geography of production is emerging, based around both old and new regional hubs in OECD and non-OECD countries. National and regional governments in OECD countries are looking for ways to ensure that regions maintain a competitive edge in industries that generate wealth and jobs. This report looks at how different regions are responding to these challenges and the strategies they have adopted to support existing competitive advantages and to transform their assets to develop new competitive strengths.

Lodz – the third largest city in Poland – is undertaking several major projects that have the potential to significantly reinvigorate the economy. Following the collapse of its traditional manufacturing industries in the late 1990s, Lodz went through a period of economic decline. A series of infrastructure investments and new developments are presently transforming its city centre and increasing its transportation connectivity. Coherent land-use practices across the areas where people live and work will be critical for the city and its surrounding communities to develop in a socially, environmentally, and fiscally sustainable way. This case study of the governance of land use in Lodz illustrates many promising practices and offers guidance on how to make the governance structure and planning system more coherent and robust both in Lodz, and in Poland more generally. This is the first in a series of five case studies on the governance of land use, which will culminate in a synthesis report to be published in 2017.

This report examines both the challenges and the opportunities associated with designing and using indicator systems as a tool for the governance of regional development policy. It draws on the experiences of a number of OECD countries and provides an in-depth look at the cases of Italy, the United Kingdom (England), the United States and the European Union.  It builds on previous OECD work on the governance of  regional development policy by extending lessons about contractual relations among levels of government to performance indicator systems.  

Prepared at the request of the City of Venice, this report explores the implications for Venice of the adoption in 2014 of new legislation on the governance of metropolitan cities. It builds on the analysis of the OECD Territorial Review of Venice (2010), analysing a number of different "functional geographies" of the larger urban region centred on Venice. The report argues that, although the new legislation offers some opportunities for Venice to address local challenges, it is important to look beyond the Metropolitan City of Venice as defined in the new legislation and to pursue greater governance co-ordination across the larger city region that encompasses Padua, Treviso and Venice (PaTreVe). Co-operation in the fields of transport, land use, environmental protection and water resources management is particularly important; there are also significant opportunities in the fields of culture and tourism. The report also outlines a possible way forward for governance co-operation at the level of PaTreVe.

Urban green growth policies encourage economic development while reducing negative environmental externalities and the consumption of natural resources and environmental assets. This report is the fourth case study in the OECD Urban Green Growth in Dynamic Asia project. It explores policies and governance systems to promote green growth in  Metro Cebu, Philippines, and provides recommendations for enhancing Cebu’s green growth potential.
 
Metro Cebu is the second most populated urban area of the Philippines after Metro Manila. Its economic growth has been impressive. However, it faces many challenges that hinder its sustainable growth in areas such as land use and the provision of basic urban services – transportation, energy, solid waste, and water security. Ongoing development offers numerous opportunties for the metro area to shift towards the cleaner sustainable model which the concept of green growth offers. 
 

This report examines the green growth potential and identifies best practices for policy and governance as well as ways to strengthen current practices. As the third largest city in Vietnam, Hai Phong’s economy is growing remarkably at an average rate of 8.7% (2015) in tandem with the growth of the Hai Phong Port. Economic growth and urbanisation, however, have posed serious environmental challenges, including: increased greenhouse gas emissions from industry and transport; rapid depletion of underground water sources; pollution of water sources from untreated commercial, medical, domestic and agricultural waste water; and inefficient waste management, where less than 10% of domestic waste is composted and recyclable materials are mixed with other waste and landfilled. Furthermore, Hai Phong ranks among the 20 cities most vulnerable to costal flooding due to climate change. Nevertheless, there is much untapped potential for green growth in Viet Nam and Hai Phong city. The ultimate goal is to build a stronger, more resilient and greener city.

This report studies green growth trends, challenges and opportunities in the City of Kitakyushu, Japan.  It firstly analyses socio-economic trends and the environmental performance of Kitakyushu; secondly reviews urban policies for land use, transport, buildings, waste, energy, water and industries that contribute to economic growth and reduce pressure on the environment; thirdly identifies innovation assets and actors in Kitakyushu and the northern Kyushu region and assesses Kitakyushu’s potential to bolster a regional green innovation system; and finally examines local, regional and national institutions, including horizontal and vertical co-ordination mechanisms that strengthen cross-sectoral and multilevel governance for green growth.

This report studies green growth trends, challenges and opportunities in the City of Stockholm, Sweden. It first analyses socio-economic trends and the environmental performance of the city and the county of Stockholm; then it reviews urban policies for land use, transport, buildings, waste, energy and water that contribute to economic growth and reduce pressure on the environment; thirdly assesses Stockholm’s green innovation potential in areas such as cleantech, ICT and university to business linkages; and finally it examines local, regional and national institutions, including horizontal and vertical coordination mechanisms that strengthen cross-sectoral and multilevel governance for green growth.