Summary

By 2030 more than sixty percent of the world's population will live in urban areas, with most of the world's population growth over the next twenty-five years being absorbed by cities and towns in low and middle income countries. What are the consequences of this shift? Demographic pressure already strains the capacity of local and national governments to manage urban change. Today, nearly one billion people live in slums, and in the absence of significant intervention that number is set to double in the next two decades. Will our future be dominated by mega-cities of poverty and despair, or can urbanization be harnessed to advance human and economic development?

Cities and Developmentprovides a critical exploration of the dynamic relationship between urbanism and development. Highlighting both the challenges and opportunities associated with rapid urban change, the book surveys:

This book brings into conversation debates from urban and development studies and highlights the strengths and weaknesses of current policy and planning responses to the contemporary urban challenge. It includes research orientated supplements in the form of summaries, boxed case studies, development questions and further reading. The book is intended for senior undergraduate and graduate students interested in urban, international and development studies, as well as policy-makers and planners concerned with equitable and sustainable urban development.

Choice Review

Cities and Development is an informative, very useful book designed to be used for college and university classes in urban studies or economic development. The coverage of topics is extensive and ranges from historical development to poverty, the environment, war, governance, and planning. The authors (both affiliated with the Crisis States Research Centre, London School of Economics) finish each chapter with a summary of the principal points made, discussion questions, and references to several books and articles and a few Web sites. Figures and boxes with data supplement the text, and references are embedded in the text rather than at the bottom of the page. It is all rather effectively done. The level of the content is both very solid and suitable for the intended audience, but it would be less interesting for specialists or practitioners in the field. Summing Up: Recommended. Students, lower-division undergraduate and up. P. K. Kresl emeritus, Bucknell University