Sustainable Urban Economic Development (SUED) Programme
Intermediary Cities Need Urban Economic Planning to Drive Sustainable Development Introduction A key objective of programmes like the UK Government funded Sustainable Urban Economic Development Programme (SUED) is to diversify growth by expanding growth away from traditional centres to foster balanced development across a region or country. Supporting the sustainable growth of intermediary cities is therefore critical to an environment that can facilitate economic growth and diversity, create new jobs that will grow national output, and act as a disincentive for mass and uncontrolled migration into main urban centres. Thus the aim of such programmes is to support market driven growth in fast growing secondary towns and cities along key economic growth corridors creating trade networks that spur economic development resilient to climate change. This requires a ‘bottom- up’ approach in economic and investment planning where local government and stakeholders, including businesses and community, are engaged successfully to help develop a local strategy for economic growth, that is pro-poor, inclusive, green, resilient and is articulated clearly, ensure ownership for implementation and defining a clear role for private and public investment. In this thought-piece, we1 discuss why and how inclusive and resilient urban economic development can be achieved. Our observations are informed by our long running involvement in the SUED programme which we hope can be useful for FCDO and like-minded donor organisations to design and implement similar programmes. We describe key “elements” which can be used to structure and deliver such a programme: 1. Urban Economic Plan (UEP) – the vehicle for delivery which sets out the vision, projects, investments and practical steps for inclusive and resilient urban economic development 2. Delivering green growth – why and how to embed green growth in programme design and implementation. In particular, we focus on raising the ambition toward transformational change and how to access sustainable finance, while: a. protecting the environment & natural resources, b. promoting social development and c. adapting to climate change.
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The Urban Economic Plans were developed by Atkins in collaboration with Howard Humphreys East Africa and ArabianBec as part of SUED