The Decentralization Debate: The World Bank Study on Sao Paulo

The World Bank has increasingly been drawn into controversies surrounding policies for restraining the growth of major urban centres and/or fostering the expansion of secondary cities in the developing world. To provide a sounder basis for policy making the Bank has launched several research programmes to understand the forces involved in urban growth across all cities in a region and the policies influencing this process. The present paper provides a synthesis of writings which have emanated from the research undertaken in Sao Paulo, Brazil, offering a comparative perspective on the decentralization debates currently raging in South Africa.