The Connection Between Urbanization and Poverty: How Cities Can Reduce Poverty – Or Deepen It By Shuli Wong Copyright © 2026 IPS-Inter Press Service. All rights reserved. -

The Connection Between Urbanization and Poverty: How Cities Can Reduce Poverty – Or Deepen It By Shuli Wong UNITED NATIONS, Sep 18 2026 (IPS) - Urbanization can help concentrate jobs, services, and investments; however, it can also concentrate unaffordable housing, insecure employment, and unequal exposure to contamination and environmental threats. A recent report from the UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, argues that the difference is not urbanization itself, but how cities are planned, governed, and financed. Elena Díaz Galán’s report, Cities and Poverty, issued earlier in July and examines social exclusion and the structural drivers of poverty in cities. In it, Galán looks at how land use, housing infrastructure, public services, and participation can either exacerbate or mitigate poverty. https://www.ipsnews.net/2026/09/the-connection-between-urbanization-and-poverty-how-cities-can-reduce-poverty-or-deepen-it/?utm_source=email_marketing&utm_admin=146128&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Forty_Years_of_the_Right_to_Development_When_Growth_Excludes_Is_It_Still_Development_Floods_Hunger_a Copyright © 2026 IPS-Inter Press Service. All rights reserved. -