Intermediary cities are not defined by the size of their population, but by their role in the urban system: they ensure basic services not only to urban but also to rural populations; and offer a variety of social services, economic opportunities, and specialized services, such as universities or industries, allowing differentiated job offers. Intermediate cities also have an increasing role at national and international level as most of urban growth happens in such cities, and there are now more than 9,000 cities with over 50,000 inhabitants and a little over 60% of the world urban population is in cities of less than 1 million inhabitants.
In economic and financial terms, these towns are situated at the most difficult territorial levels that face both the greatest difficulty in access and managing finances while also constituting the level best adapted to implement innovative solutions and hybrid mechanisms to finance urban development sustainably and build resilient and inclusive territories.
The session will contribute to the identification and recognitions of a variety of strategies and mechanisms implemented by cities to face financial and planning issues in order to foster new cooperation initiatives between local leaders and their partners.
Key questions:
- Characteristics of Intermediary cities: What are the specificities of intermediary cities? What are the links with rural territories and with metropolitan cities?
- The opportunities of an integrated urban planning: How important is planning to ensure a sustainable, integrated and resilient economic development for territories?
- The strategies to finance the urban development: How to provide and finance sustainable and effective public services with local resources? What are the supports made available for intermediary cities at institutional level?
- International organizations, associations, networks of cities: Which networks? Which programmes to support their development and foster the cooperation between intermediate territories?
