{"word_count": 289, "character_count": 1992}
Global Monitoring Report 2013:  Rural-Urban Dynamics and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)Friday, May 3, 201302:00 - 04:00 PM Room No.  HT- 1-300The World Bank, Hindustan Times Building, Kasturba Gandhi Marg, New DelhiPresenter :Jos Verbeek, Lead Author, Global Monitoring Report, World BankDiscussants:  Arun Maira, Member, Planning Commission, Government of India A S Bahl, Economic Advisor, Ministry of Urban Development, Government of India Dr. Amitabh Kundu, Professor of Economics &#38; Dean of School of Social Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, DelhiAromar Revi, Director, Indian Institute of Human Settlements                Moderator : Barjor Mehta,  Lead Urban Specialist, World BankPlease disseminate to your external audiences For more information on the Global Monitoring Report, go to www.worldbank.org/gmr(only for World Bank Staff)Others please confirm through an email      Key message of the GMR 2013:In the past two decades, developing countries have urbanized rapidly, with the number of people living in urban settlements rising from about 1.5 billion in 1990 to 3.6 billion (more than half of the world’s population) in 2011. The report finds that urban poverty rates are significantly lower than rural poverty rates and that urban populations have far better access to the basic public services, such as access to safe water and sanitation facilities, even though within urban areas asymmetries in access are large. If the forces of urbanization are not managed speedily and efficiently, slum growth can overwhelm city growth, exacerbate urban poverty, and derail MDG achievements. As the GMR points out, however, people are located along a continuous rural-urban spectrum, and large cities are not necessarily places where the urban poor are concentrated. Smaller towns matter greatly for urban poverty reduction and service delivery. GMR 2013 calls for an integrated strategy to better manage the planning - connecting - financing formula of urbanization. 