Urban Innovations: Community Participation: A Key to Improving Vientiane's Urban Infrastructure

Abstract

The Vientiane Urban Infrastructure Services Project1 supported decentralization, strengthened urban governance and management, and provided sustainable urban services to the people of Vientiane, Lao People’s Democratic Republic. Despite previous investments in roads, as well as drainage and water supply facilities, Vientiane’s urban infrastructure development backlog was so great that both economic growth and the quality of life of urban residents were being compromised. This was true of both the city’s primary and secondary infrastructure networks. These problems particularly affected Vientiane’s population at the community level, the majority of whom lives in low-lying lands that flood for a significant part of the year.