State of the World's Cities 2008/9

30 November 2008

The 21st century is the Century of the City. Half of humanity now lives in cities, and within the next two decades, 60 per cent of the world's people will reside in urban areas. How can city planners and policymakers harmonize the various interests, diversity and inherent contradictions within cities? What ingredients are needed to create harmony between the physical, social, environmental and cultural aspects of a city and the human beings that inhabit it?

Cities

2 November 2007

• It is estimated that 2 billion people will live in slums by 2033
• Around 12 million illegal migrants live in the USA
• Factory workers in Bangladesh work over 60 hours a week for US$5
• Over 60% of the urban poor lack basic provisions of water, sewerage systems and electricity.

Empowering Squatter Citizen

22 June 2004

With the rapid growth in urban poverty in Africa, Asia and Latin America, most cities now have 30 to 60 per cent of their population living in shanty towns. The civil and political rights of these people are either ignored or constantly contravened, say the authors of this title.

Water and Sanitation in the World's Cities:

19 November 2003

The world's governments agreed at the Millennium Summit to halve the number of people who lack access to safe water, mainly in the world's cities, by 2015. With rapidly growing urban populations the challenge is immense, asthis book makes clear.

Growing Up in an Urbanizing World

15 July 2002

A long-awaited account of an international research project which has explored the relationship of children and their urban neighbourhoods, and has looked at ways of drawing on children's creativity and engagement in improving these neighbourhoods.

Rediscovering Dharavi

15 July 2002

Dharavi, known as Asia's largest slum, covers 175 hectares in Mumbai and is home to almost a million people. Kalpana Sharma's account of this city-within-a-city traces its history from the time when it was one of Bombay's original fishing communities, through the period when large parts of this swampy area were reclaimed for construction through the dumping of garbage, to its present incarnation as a vast and productive settlement in the heart of the city.

Cities in a Globalizing World

17 April 2002

Cities in a Globalizing World presents a comprehensive review of the world's cities and analyses the positive and negative impacts on human settlements of the global trends towards social and economic integration and the rapid changes in information and communication technologies.

Environmental problems in an urbanizing world

24 September 2001

This updated and much expanded edition of the classic, Environmental Problems in Third World Cities, describes environmental problems and their effect on human health, local ecosystems and global cycles.