A/42/427
English
Page 246
likewise promote more effectively the development of small and intermadiate urban centres. the strengthening of their local governments. and the establishment of services and facilities needed to attract development initiatives and investment. Ministries of Planning, Finance, Industry, Agriculture, and so on would have clear goals and criteria against which to assess the effects of their policies and expenditures on urban development. Contradictory policies and programmes could be changed. At the very least, the spatial biases inherent In macroeconomic and fiscal policies, annual budgets, pricing structures, and sectoral investment plans could be exposed and assessed. Within such a strategy. the traditional tools of urban policy, including land use planning and control, would stand a better chance of being effective.
33. The formulation of such a strategy is clearly a central government responsibility. Beyond this, however, the role of central governments should be primarily to strengthen the capacity of local governments to find and carry through effective solutions to local urban problems and stimulate local opportunities.
2. Strengthening Local Authorities
34. The institutional and legal structures of local government in most developing nations are inadequate or these purposes. most African and Asian nations the structure of urban government goes back to the colonial period and was designed to deal with predominantly rural and agricultural societies. It was never intended to cope with rapid urbanization or to manage cities of several million inhabitants. Newly independent governments inherited a framework of laws and procedures totally iappropriate to deal with the urban processes they were about to confront. Yet in many nations, this inherited framework remains largely in place.
35. Where the immediate colonial past is less evident, as in most Latin American nations. the political, institutional, and legal frameworks for local government are often just as inappropriate and inadequate. As in Asia and Africa, most are based on models imported from Europe, or North America. This ha made it difficult for them to influence the direction of urbanization and to manage the problems of large, rapidly expanding urban centres. It has created cities that are energy and material-intensive and dependent on imports, and that add to the burden on the national economy, including pressures on trade and balance of payments.
36. Urban development cannot be based on standardized models, imported or indigenous. Development possibilities are particular to each city and must be assessed within the context of its own region. What works in one city may be totally inappropriate in another, although technical help from central agencies may be needed, only a strong local government can ensure that the customs, urban forms, social priorities, and environmental conditions of the local area are reflected in local plans for urban development. But local authorities have not been given the political power, decision-making capacity, and access to revenues
