Urban and Regional Development

Local citizens participate in urban planning in south Qanawat, Syria.

JICA's efforts to sustain urban and regional development in developing countries include both urban master planning and comprehensive regional planning. Also, it offers Technical Assistance and cooperation to facilitate the execution of these plans, which contributes to economic growth and improved standards of living.

JICA has set five priority strategies to advance its agenda, analyze urban and regional problems, create a medium- to long-term vision, formulate development policies, draft plans by sector and propose action plans for implementation. This will thus ensure that a number of projects will be implemented effectively and efficiently.

1. Take an integrated and comprehensive approach on the diverse issues in the urban areas or region
2. Emphasize capacity development across all administrative agencies, social organizations and communities to advance urban and regional development
3. Enhance regional administrative systems in line with the country's state of affairs
4. Correct disparities between regions by promoting balanced regional development that recognizes the perspectives of its residents
5. Encourage balanced economic development that prevents the negative effects of urbanization

In the past, JICA's collaborative efforts in urban and regional development focused on plan formulation, but recent efforts include fostering human resources to execute these plans. In Viet Nam, JICA started formulating master plans in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City and centrally located Da Nang in 2008. In line with this, JICA launched a human resource development project in March 2009 to promote locally led plan formulation in rural centers as well.

While traditional development plans were administrative-based, the formulation of master plans in Viet Nam included a survey of 10,000-20,000 people, a technique being used more frequently to ensure people's opinions are adequately reflected in development plans. JICA also supports the improvement of impoverished living environments by strengthening the capabilities of organizations involved in new technological research and development related to housing projects. It also provides accurate geographical information such as maps that are indispensable to development planning.

As regional needs diversify, it is essential to adopt a wider view to tackle the problems of a particular city or region rather than addressing issues individually. In that sense, JICA has begun regional development efforts from a macro perspective, even across borders, by looking at the larger picture from multiple angles instead of focusing on a single region that is developing slowly.