Lead Organizations

Caisse des dépôts et consignations (CDC)

Partners

MedCities

Challenges

Limited integrated city management and the need for a new cross-sectorial understanding of citizens’ needs throughout the southern Mediterranean.  

Program Objectives

• To enhance the capacities of Mediterranean cities and respond to the need for a new generation of Urban Development Strategies.
• To address the institutional issues of land management as a main pillar of integrated urban development.
• To provide national and local authorities with platforms, tools, analytical studies and guidebooks to facilitate decision making.

Selected Results

• Generated innovative approaches: Development of MENApolis, a tool that predicts urban sprawling for the next 20 years using statistical and mapping techniques. City decision makers can use it as a mean to assess, monitor and adjust the urbanization trends through 2030.
• Informed policy/strategy:

  • ​Report on “Urban Development Strategies in the Mediterranean: Context, Issues, and outlook,” a comprehensive assessment of the situation over Mediterranean cities.

  • Reviews of land policy management in Tunisia and Lebanon assessed institutions’ objectives and challenges to improve city development and access to housing and were. Results of these reviews were disseminated in June 2012 (Tunisia) and November 2012 (Lebanon).  

  • Report entitled “Mediterranean City-Port Atlas” which provided data on the major port cities of six countries (Algeria, Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco, Tunisia, and Turkey) covering port facilities and equipment, management institutions, and interactions between port and city. 

• Increased capacity:​

  • Development of a methodological handbook (available in English and in Arabic) on urban development strategies, dedicated to city stakeholders as well as development agencies and donors who are willing to design City Development Strategies in the southern Mediterranean region.
  • Training on how to use the MENAPolis tool conducted in Morocco, November 2011, and Tunisia, May 2012.
• Improved Network: The Network of Urban Developers for Sustainable Mediterranean Cities brings together public and private agencies from the 5 CMI member countries together with international financing institutions (IFIs) around a knowledge sharing platform.  The network objective is to develop a dialogue on technical issues and share knowledge on sustainable city around common objectives and provide the members with opportunities to benefit from the leverage effect generated by their participation to the network.