A World Bank senior economist has declared that urbanisation is essential to economic development, pushing back against governments that treat urban growth as a problem to contain. Speaking to Euronews at the World Urban Forum in Baku, Mark Roberts said cities attract people precisely because they generate jobs and economic opportunity, and that congestion and rising land prices are signs of success rather than failure. The forum — a UN conference on sustainable urban development held every two years, with its 13th edition drawing over 40,000 delegates from 182 countries to the Azerbaijani capital — is nonetheless hearing cautionary voices, including from Addis Ababa's chief resilience officer, who warned that rapid urbanisation in many African cities is already outpacing governments' capacity to respond, and called for greater international financing to help vulnerable nations cope with climate pressures largely created by wealthier countries.