As an urbanist with years of experience in developing countries as well as in the United States and Europe, I have seen cities of all shapes and sizes, with services and lack of, confronting a multitude of issues, and yet all are defined by their people and natural and built environments. Currently, as Urban Climate Change Adviser at USAID/Washington and Program Manager of the CityLInks Program, it is a challenging and timely opportunity to assist urban environments in tackling the demands of population growth and climatic change.

Cities are paradoxes. On the one hand, they can be enriching places, where peoples, markets, and architecture come together to generate economic activities and vibrant social and cultural interactions. And yet, air pollution, traffic congestion, lack of public services, underpin the challenges of daily life and rooted inadequacies in many urban communities throughout the world. Climate change considerations bring an additional layer of complexity to the urban environment, whereby a balance between growing demands and limited resources will define our future sustainability.

Demographic trends forecast 60% of the world's population by 2020 will be concentrated in cities. Seventy (70%) of urban inhabitants in Africa will be living in slums. Approximate greenhouse gas (GHGs) concentrations and energy consumption in cities are recorded at 70% and 60%, respectively, with both figures due to increase as countries develop and cities grow.

But challenges present opportunities. Our present era of sustainable growth offers us the knowledge, technology, and communities of practices to create healthy, low-carbon, and productive urban environments. The building blocks (legos) are being layed today as the growth of intermediate cities, predominately in the developing world, drive the construction of the built environment and infrastructure to meet the needs of new inhabitants. Roads, housing, power plants, service facilities are the legos that will define the spatial patterns and resource use intensities of cities for years to come. It is therefore imperative that we get it right now and leap frog the mistakes of auto and fossil fuel dependent societies by putting in place holistic and integrated systems that address the socio-economic needs of people and communities in a manner that is respectful of the environmental conditions necessary to sustain present day and future livelihoods.

The window of opportunity to strengthen urban and land use planning and promote sustainable design to mitigate emissions generation, preserve natural resources and foster development of sustainable and resilient communities is before us. The consequences of neglect can be high as poorly sited infrastructure can lead to lock-in of resource inefficiencies with long lasting implications for buildings, transportation, energy and water among others sectors that impact our quality of life and sustainability for years to come.

USAID's re-launch of the CityLInks program, in partnership with ICMA, offers the opportunity to bring proven technical experiences and peer-peer learning opportunities between municipal officials and local stakeholders in the USA and developing countries in addressing urban challenges. The new CityLinks takes the view of helping cities move towards urban sustainability and greater resiliency in the face of demographic trends and climatic changes.

CityLinks' previous partnerships and most valuable experiences, including infrastructure, medical and solid waste management, coastal restoration, disaster preparedness, economic development have been compiled in a publication entitled: CityLInks: Global challenges, local solutions, CityLinks 2003-2008 Report, and have been submitted for consideration for the United States Center at Rio+20, the UN Conference on Sustainable Development to be held in June of this year. In the meantime, the CityLinks program is starting to engage with communities in Central America, Africa and Southeast Asia with the aim of advancing urban capacities and solutions.

For additional information, please contact Helen Santiago Fink at:  hsantiagofink@usaid.gov