Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) President Luis Alberto Moreno has announced the creation of a platform to work with 140 fast-growing “intermediate” cities (those with populations between 100,000 and two million) in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), to analyze their sustainable urban development challenges, propose solutions, prioritize investments and identify funding from national and international sources. 

oreno explained that the platform aims to helping these cities avoid the mistakes of the past by producing comprehensive plans for cleaner, less carbon-intensive urban development that feature sustainable solutions in several areas, including transport, air and water pollution, energy efficiency, solid waste, climate change adaptation, disaster prevention and fiscal management. Initially, the IDB will work with a small number of these cities to develop and test instruments, with successful models to be offered subsequently to other intermediate cities in LAC.