Governing, financing and delivering area‑based initiatives in neighbourhoods

Where people live can significantly shape their access to opportunity. Even in prosperous cities and regions, some neighbourhoods face persistent disadvantage, with limited access to jobs, quality housing, essential services and social infrastructure. For decades, governments have used area-based initiatives (ABIs) to address these interconnected dimensions of disadvantage, while also mobilising the local assets, networks and capacities that these neighbourhoods possess. The value of ABIs lie not simply in investing additional resources, but also in organising government and local actors differently around them. Building on a companion paper that mapped more than 40 programmes across OECD countries, this paper examines the design choices governments must make in terms of how to govern, finance and deliver ABIs. It discusses how to identify and select neighbourhoods; structure funding; co-ordinate across ministries; bridge national strategies with local flexibility; build local partnerships and capacity for delivery; and enable meaningful community participation. Core lessons distilled are not only relevant for ABI design, but can also inform how mainstream policies and services are delivered at the neighbourhood level.