Urban water management influences and is influenced by a wide range of interests. While stakeholder engagement has its limitations; it is, however, a crucial aspect of integrated and more sustainable urban water management.

Developing countries remain an untapped market for the private sector. Exclusion from market opportunities, however, can lead to barriers to business and resistance to globalization. Recognizing the devastating impact of unexpected shocks, the Asian Development Bank views microinsurance a roadmap to financial inclusion and a social risk management tool.

Explore the features, challenges, and best practices of regional integration in Africa, Asia, Europe, and Latin America. Due to the changing context of globalization, there is a need to look at regional economic integration and cooperation in a new light.

There is a need to protect life and existing development of nearly built-out communities, such as the case of slums in the Philippines. Proposed community improvements should address multiple objectives of risk reduction, livability, and sustainability.

The proliferation of informal settlements is a major challenge in Thailand. Achieving land tenure security and upgrading urban poor communities at citywide scale will require the use of a community driven and city partnership approach.

Evaluation findings of slum upgrading from cities across the world reveal that emphasis on low cost, quick, and visible results in projects poses some problems. Addressing the challenges of different and diverse cities and slums in Asia will require the application of different locally-determined and community-based solutions.

While Asian cities experience a rapid transformation, the number of slum dwellers in the region remains higher than anywhere else. Developing inclusive approaches—recognizing that the poor are a part of the growth and transformation story—is needed to increase access to formal urban housing.

Supporting change on the ground by working with those most at risk, the Bangladesh Coastal Towns Environmental Infrastructure Project is an example of inclusive approach to disaster risk management. The project’s intended outcome is increase in climate and disaster resiliency in coastal towns that benefit the poor and women. 

Sanitation, the most off-tracked of all the Millennium Development Goals, has recently received greater attention from government donors and the development community. Solving the sanitation challenge in the developing world will require new innovations that are deployable, large scale, and appropriate in densely-populated areas.

About 40% of the world population still do not have access to simple toilet facilities. Apart from its aim to break the sanitation taboo in global news, the World Toilet Organization advocates for toilet to become a status symbol for the poor.