Bankable projects for Sustainable Development

Inside international funding institutions, the feasibility study is used as a tool to analyze financial returns and viability. it also takes into consideration economic analyses that look into social and environmental aspects. But in many cases, these economic analysis lacks the adequate stakeholder engagement process that would ensure project buy-in and a smoother project implementation phase. In many cases, feasibility studies turn into time and resource consuming processes that do not completely ensure that the needs of governments have been catered for and that the best technical solution has been proposed. This is because the development of complex and integrated urban projects requires to adapt technical solutions to the local context, through participatory planning processes, consultations and pilots, that are able to define urban challenges, understand the local specificities and propose the best fit-for-purpose solution. There is also a need to develop financial products that allow cities to develop in an integrated way, providing funding frameworks that can articulate the urban complexity instead of only funding sectorial urban development. These integrative financial instruments foster integration of sectors such as mobility, housing, spatial planning and urban resilience.

The session aims at bringing together cities and international organizations to discuss which are the main challenges they face while developing sound bankable projects and to find concrete solutions on how to improve current practices through agreed methodologies, innovative funding mechanisms and international partnerships.