Institutional initiatives in the developing world : a review of the 1990s

This paper draws on work undertaken by the author in 2000 for the CODATU organisation, which required the review of over fifty papers concerned with institutional change in urban transport in the developing world. The need for institutional change in developing countries was a strong theme throughout the literature. Barat (1990) considers the institutional planning frameworks in Third World cities to have three elements: organisations, procedures and resources. According to Barat's model, these are guided by a management and control structure and by planning philosophy, procedures and techniques. This paper begins with a brief introduction discussing the importance of institutional issues in urban transport, and then describes Barat's model of institutional planning frameworks. The paper goes on to review the literature on institutional development in the developing world which has either identified common problem areas, or which has highlighted some successes. Some of the interesting themes to emerge from this literature review are the widespread calls for institutional integration; the high profile given in the literature to human resources development; the recognition of the political nature of transport decision-making; the need for a fresh emphasis on low-cost solutions; and the apparent inappropriateness of current planning techniques. Using this literature review, it has been possible to draw some conclusions for South Africa on imperatives for institutional change.