Preface
Introduction
An urbanizing world
Homogenizing the Third World
The context for this book
1. The Legal and the Illegal City
Building cities from the bottom up
The colonial legacy
The illegal city
The law is not equal for all
2. One Government Cannot Hold All Wisdom
Inappropriate models and concepts
Attitudes to housing
Urban growth as a problem
Local government - responsibility without the resources
National policies
The impact of the economic crisis
Blocks to change
3. The Search for Shelter
“The value of my house - 26 years struggle”
The diversity of need
The development of tenements
The growth of illegal settlements
Acquiring land for housing
Owners and renters
Government attitudes to illegal settlements
4. Shelter: the Response of Government
The cost of government inaction on land
Evaluating government housing policies
The cost of inappropriate action: public housing for the few
The myth of the housing gap
Public provision in centrally planned economies
5. The Emergence of New Attitudes and Policies for Housing
Obstacles to scaling up and institutionalizing the new approaches
Governments and the market
Building on the last thirty years experience - the popular approach
Implementing the popular approach
6. Environmental Problems in Third World Cities - in the Home, Workplace and Neighbourhood
The indoor environment - at home and at work
The neighbourhood environment
Tackling environmental health problems
The role of privatization
Another role for NGOs
7. Environmental Problems at the City and Regional Level
The city environment
Toxic/hazardous wastes
Transferring the First World's pollution to the Third World
Water pollution
Air pollution
Noise pollution
Environmental problems in smaller cities
The environment of poverty
Regional impacts
Tackling city wide pollution
Global concerns and the global commons
8. The Dimensions of Urban Change
The difficulties in describing urban change
What generalizations are valid for urban change?
Latin America
Asia
Africa
The underpinnings of urban change
The urban future?
Towards new forecasting techniques?
Postscript - the ruralization of cities?
9. Outside the Large Cities
The problem of definition
Background
The uniqueness of each centre
The role of local government
The links between agricultural and urban development
Social and spatial biases in government priorities
Basic service provision
Small urban centres - and controlling the growth of large cities
Conclusions
Epilogue
The failure of government
The role of aid agencies
Urban bias, large-city bias or rich person bias?
New interpretations
Notes and References
Suggested Further Reading
Index
