Victoria A. Beard

Fellow, World Resources Report, WRI Ross Center for Sustainable Cities

Bio

Victoria A. Beard is a Fellow at WRI Ross Center for Sustainable Cities. Victoria is co-leading the effort to produce the World Resources Report (WRR), Towards a More Equal City. She was the lead author on the WRR framing paper, designed the research methodology for a series of city-level case studies on urban transformation, and she is co-authoring papers on inclusive cities and informal workers as well as papers on equitable access to urban water and sanitation services.

Victoria’s career has been defined by a synergy between urban planning research and practice. She has experience conceptualizing, designing, and leading research projects related to the most pressing problems facing cities in the global South. She began her career at RAND and most recently she is an Associate Professor at Cornell University.

Prior to joining WRI, Victoria’s research focused on the relationship between community level collective action and poverty alleviation. This work ranges from how citizens organize to meet their basic human needs to how they plan for broader social and political transformation. In this work she has used diverse research strategies and methods, ranging from comparative case studies to statistical analyses of large data sets.

For 20 years, Victoria has been actively engaged in planning practice for the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, Research Triangle Institute, AusAID, and Mercy Corp. Working with governments, community-based organizations and non-governmental organizations, she has helped develop and implement projects and programs that focus on poverty reduction, community-based planning, and access to basic services.

Blogs

We're Underestimating How Many People Lack Sanitation Services—and Ignoring the Best Solution for Many Cities
by Jillian Du, Victoria A. Beard, David Satterthwaite and Diana Mitlin - December 18, 2019
On average, almost two-thirds of urban residents across 15 cities in the global South lack access to safely managed sanitation, with access lowest in cities of South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa.
We're Grossly Underestimating the World's Water Access Crisis
by Jillian Du, Diana Mitlin, Victoria A. Beard and David Satterthwaite - August 13, 2019
Nearly half the population in 15 major cities in the global south lacks access to public piped water systems, with access lowest in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. For these households without public piped water, water from other sources is either too expensive or unsafe.
World Resources Report: Towards a More Equal City - Framing Opportunities and Challenges
by Victoria A. Beard, Anjali Mahendra and Michael I. Westphal - October 06, 2016
Once every 20 years, the world's urban leaders gather to determine the best course of action for the world's cities. This year, at Habitat III, the 21st century challenges for cities are clear. WRI's World Resources Report examines whether providing equitable access to services can make cities more economically productive and environmentally sustainable.
Improving Life for the Urban Under-Served Makes Cities Better for All – But That’s Not the Only Reason to Do It
by Michael I. Westphal, Anjali Mahendra and Victoria A. Beard - September 20, 2016
Tackling inequality in the world's cities can be a crucial way to foster urban development, improve the environment and spur the economy.

Publications

Untreated and Unsafe: Solving the Urban Sanitation Crisis in the Global South
This working paper describes sanitation access challenges in cities of the global south that have been overlooked in global indicators. In analyzing 15 cities, we found that almost two-thirds of urban residents lack access to safely managed sanitation, with access lowest in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. For these households, sanitation services are too expensive or unsafe. This paper highlights four key action areas for cities to improve sanitation access: extend the sewer and simplified sewer networks to household, communal and public toilets; support and regulate on-site sanitation in the absence of sewer systems; support citywide settlement upgrading; and make sanitation services affordable for all.

by David Satterthwaite, Victoria A. Beard, Diana Mitlin and Jillian Du - December 2019

publication
Topics: WRI Ross Center for Sustainable Cities
Unaffordable and Undrinkable: Rethinking Urban Water Access in the Global South
This working paper describes water access challenges in cities of the global south that have been hitherto largely invisible in global indicators. In analyzing 15 cities, we found that piped utility water is the most affordable option, yet, on average, almost half of all households lack access, and most of those that do have access receive intermittent service. This paper highlights four key action areas for cities to improve water access: extending the formal piped water network, addressing context-specific causes of intermittent water service, pursuing diverse strategies to make water affordable, and supporting informal settlement upgrading.

by Diana Mitlin, Victoria A. Beard, David Satterthwaite and Jillian Du - August 2019

publication
Topics: WRI Ross Center for Sustainable Cities
Geography: Latin America, South Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa
Including the Excluded: Supporting Informal Workers for More Equal and Productive Cities in the Global South
The fourth working paper of WRI’s flagship World Resources Report (WRR), "Towards a More Equal City”, examines different approaches that cities have taken towards the informal self-employed workers and their livelihood activities. After presenting recent data on the size, composition, and contribution of the informal economy, the paper highlights a series of actionable areas for urban change agents to make cities more inclusive and productive.

by Martha Chen and Victoria A. Beard - May 2018

publication
Topics: Africa, WRI Ross Center for Sustainable Cities
Geography: Africa, Latin America, South Asia
Towards a More Equal City: Framing the Challenges and Opportunities
The World Resources Report (WRR) examines if prioritizing access to core urban services, we can create cities that are prosperous and sustainable for all people. This first installment of the WRR developed a new categorization of cities into emerging, struggling, thriving, and stabilizing cities. It focuses on solutions for struggling and emerging cities—over half the cities included in the analysis—because they have the greatest opportunity to alter their development trajectory.

by Victoria A. Beard, Anjali Mahendra and Michael I. Westphal - October 2016

publication
Topics: WRI Ross Center for Sustainable Cities

External Publications

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Victoria A. Beard

We're Underestimating How Many People Lack Sanitation Services—and Ignoring the Best Solution for Many Cities

We're Grossly Underestimating the World's Water Access Crisis

World Resources Report: Towards a More Equal City - Framing Opportunities and Challenges

Improving Life for the Urban Under-Served Makes Cities Better for All – But That’s Not the Only Reason to Do It

Untreated and Unsafe: Solving the Urban Sanitation Crisis in the Global South

Unaffordable and Undrinkable: Rethinking Urban Water Access in the Global South

Including the Excluded: Supporting Informal Workers for More Equal and Productive Cities in the Global South

Towards a More Equal City: Framing the Challenges and Opportunities

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