[{"bbox": [103, 153, 1131, 207], "category": "Text", "text": "employment opportunities. Tashkent dominates the urban hierarchy and hosts much stronger urban economic activities and quality of urban infrastructure than all other cities."}, {"bbox": [103, 219, 1131, 431], "category": "Text", "text": "Uneven territorial development is further exacerbated by rapid urban growth in Uzbekistan which generates a new set of challenges resulting in significant pressure on land. In the past 30 years, the country has experienced a significant demographic shift from predominantly rural to increasingly urban living, with over 50 percent of the population now residing in urban areas. As migration restrictions ease, rural-to-urban migration is expected to rise further, intensifying the demand for housing and land⁷. This growth has been and continues to be largely spontaneous and unmanaged, leading to increased vulnerability to climate change and disasters and unmet needs for infrastructure and services, which hampers residents' quality of life, diminishes cities' attractiveness to investors and limits job creation."}, {"bbox": [96, 443, 1133, 709], "category": "Text", "text": "Gender inequality is holding back Uzbekistan's development potential. The 2022 Global Gender Development Index, which measures gaps in human development outcomes in health, knowledge and living standards, ranks Uzbekistan 106th out of 189 countries. In 2019, a Law on Gender Equality was passed, and in 2021 the Strategy for Achieving Gender Equality in Uzbekistan in 2020-2030 was adopted. These include guarantees of equal opportunities for women and men, non-discrimination provisions, equal access to public services, promotion of equal participation in state affairs and improved access to economic opportunities for women. Nevertheless, there are significant gender inequalities in the decision-making processes and meetings of local communities. The struggle with economic inequality between women and men is particularly acute in the labour market. According to the International Labour Organisation (ILO), women's participation in the labour force fell from 50 per cent in 2010 to 45 per cent in 2021⁸."}, {"bbox": [96, 735, 1133, 921], "category": "Text", "text": "The officially reported number of persons with disabilities - 2.1 per cent of the population - is likely to be an underestimate, as an estimated 16 per cent of the world's population has some form of disability and around 80 per cent of them live in developing countries. While the adoption of the Law on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2020) is a significant step forward, it is largely based on the medical model of disability, does not address the civil and political rights of persons with disabilities, lacks enforcement, implementation and monitoring mechanisms, and does not address the multiple forms of discrimination faced by women and girls with disabilities and persons belonging to marginalized and invisible groups⁹."}, {"bbox": [103, 959, 1131, 1173], "category": "Text", "text": "The proposed action is expected to lay down the basis for possible Global Gateway infrastructure projects by aiming to improve spatial development visioning and strategic planning, decentralise municipal governance and budgets and introduce a new generation of urban and rural plans adjusted to the new sustainable development patterns. New integrated planning and management strategies that leverage inter-institutional coordination, digitalisation and data-driven decision-making will be introduced. Supporting government efforts in digitalising the NSDI and using earth observation, the Action will link in with the Global Gateway TEI Flagship on Digital Connectivity. Domestically, the action fits into the goals set out by President Mirziyoev in the Uzbekistan 2030 Strategy."}, {"bbox": [85, 1285, 340, 1316], "category": "Section-header", "text": "## 2.2 Problem Analysis"}, {"bbox": [85, 1539, 1143, 1579], "category": "Footnote", "text": "⁷ Sivaev, D., Kamilov I., Rossitti G., Orlova, N., Vaggione 2022, P. The Time is Now: How Can Uzbekistan Leverage Urbanization as a Driver of Sustainable Development? Washington, DC: World Bank."}, {"bbox": [85, 1579, 896, 1602], "category": "Footnote", "text": "⁸ https://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/099052824010093257/pdf/P1756961bcc2a50811a9d21c373fd390418.pdf"}, {"bbox": [85, 1604, 839, 1647], "category": "Footnote", "text": "⁹https://unprpd.org/situational_analysis/?wpv-document-category=situational-analysis&wpv-country=uzbekistan&wpv_aux_current_post_id=1274&wpv_aux_parent_post_id=1274&wpv_view_count=1610"}, {"bbox": [1035, 1680, 1143, 1705], "category": "Page-footer", "text": "Page 6 of 23"}]