From the Thompson Reuters Foundation, April 29:
Densely populated cities are at the frontline of the contagious outbreak, with the most vulnerable likely to be hardest hit
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By Anastasia Moloney
BOGOTA, April 29 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - About 100 million people living in cities worldwide will likely fall into poverty due to the coronavirus pandemic, urban experts said on Wednesday, calling for mapping tools to identify vulnerable communities and investment focusing on slum areas.
Densely populated cities are poised at the frontline of the contagious outbreak, hard hit where people live in poverty with little or no running water, sewage systems or health care access, said experts at the World Bank, the World Resources Institute (WRI) and other urban-study groups.
"Within cities we need to focus on those who need help the most, the poor and the vulnerable have been very seriously affected," said Sameh Wahba, global director for the World Bank's urban, disaster risk management, resilience and land global practice.
"Our estimate is that there will be possibly upward of a 100 million so-called 'new poor' on account of loses of jobs and livelihoods and income," Wahba told a webinar with members of the media.
He warned that cities will see a drop of between 15% to 25% in tax revenues next year, making it difficult for authorities to invest in improving slum areas.
Many cities lack accurate data about slum areas, making it difficult to know where investments should be targeted, the experts said.
A World Bank mapping tool using artificial intelligence, high-resolution satellite imagery and three-dimensional images is helping cities find areas with communal water taps and toilets or where social distancing is impractical because of overcrowding, Wahba said.
So far the tool has been used to produce such maps for Cairo, Mumbai and Kinshasa....
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