Financing Urban Development: Which Effective Mechanisms and Tools for Local Governments?

There is a global consensus that most of the investments needed to achieve the SDGs will take place at the sub-national level and be led by local authorities. This reality confirms the need for recognition and reinforcement of local authorities as pertinent actors of sustainable development.  Massive public and private investments will be necessary to improve access to sustainable urban services and infrastructures, to improve cities’ resilience and to prepare them to host 2.5 billion new urban residents over the next three decades, particularly in developing countries.  The issues revolving around the means of implementation and sustainable financing of urbanization, including the institutional tools needed to this aim, will be at the core of the Conference in Quito. How can cities access the financing and secure the political will needed to achieve these ambitious goals? To answer this question, a first effort needs to be done to transfer competencies, human resources and funds from national to local authorities. However, this support will be insufficient to ensure the future need for urban sustainable infrastructure. Thus, it is essential to explore the creation complementary resources at the local level Habitat III will take the discussion forward on the mechanisms aimed at mobilizing funding to the local level and the strategies for unlocking the economic potential of urban areas. Based on international experiences, the event aims at opening a dialogue on the various financial and institutional mechanisms to stimulate the channeling of resources from global, regional and national levels to subnational levels. Three main mechanisms will be discussed:
 - Long-term and project-oriented planning
 - Multilevel partnerships and inter-municipality cooperation
 - Direct access of local authorities to international borrowing