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Other titles of interest

Mega-city Growth and the Future
Edited by Roland J. Fuchs, Ellen Brennan, Joseph Chamie, Fu-chen Lo, and Juha I, Uitto

This volume examines the major challenge of managing mega-cities with populations exceeding 8 million, two-thirds of them in developing countries, in the twenty-first century.

ISBN 92-808-0820-6
US$35

Emerging World Cities in Pacific Asia
Edited by FU-chen Lo and Yue-man Yeung

This book provides a comprehensive appraisal of the interplay between global structural adjustments and the changing role and configuration of Asia's cities at the close of the twentieth century,

ISBN 92-808-0907-5
US$35

The Urban Challenge in Africa
Growth and Management of Its Large Cities
Edited by Carole Rakodi

Scholars from a range of national and disciplinary backgrounds examine in this volume the growth of the largest cities in Africa - their characteristics, their dynamism despite economic crisis, and the outcomes of attempts to manage them

ISBN 92-808-0952-0
US$40

Urban Crime
Global Trends and Policies
Edited by Hernando Gomez Buendia

In eight case-studies of Bangkok, Bogotá, Lagos, Nairobi, San José, Singapore, Tokyo, and Warsaw, the authors analyse crime trends, innovative measures to prevent and control crime, how criminal justice systems function, and juvenile delinquency

ISBN 92-808-0679-3
US$45

BY THE YEAR 2000, Latin will contain five metropolitan areas with more than 8 million people. Their combined population will be over 70 million, and approximately one Latin American in seven will live in those five cities Two of them, Mexico City and São Paulo, will arguably be the world's two largest cities.

The sheer number of people living in Latin America's mega-cities is not the only reason for looking at them carefully. Unfortunately, they also demonstrate many of the worst symptoms of the region's underdevelopment: vast areas of shanty towns, huge numbers of poor people, high concentrations of air and water pollution, and serious levels of traffic congestion. This book is about the prospects for their future.

Several clear conclusions emerge from the book. First, the largest cities of Latin America differ greatly in terms of their future prospects. It is far easier to be optimistic in Buenos Aires than in Lima. Second, whether urban problems improve or deteriorate has rather little to do with size of city and a great deal to do with trends in the wider economy and society. Increasingly, those trends are determined not just by local decisions but by decisions made outside the region. Third, Latin America's mega-cities are not going to grow to unmanageable proportions because their growth rates have generally slowed. Fourth, management is a critical issue for the future but it is difficult to know whether the quality of management will improve or deteriorate through time.

The book contains chapters on each of Latin America's six largest cities (Mexico City, São Paulo, Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro, Lima, and Santa Fé de Bogotá). The book also has four thematic chapters. The first discusses the demography of urban growth in the region and the other three focus on whet are particularly sensitive issues in very large cities: public administration, transportation, and land, housing, and infrastructure.

Professor Alan Gilbert teaches at University Colledge London. He has written 12 books on housing and on urban development in third world countries and has recently acted as a consultant to the Inter-American Development Bank, UNCHS (HABITAT), UNESCO, and UNFPA.

United Nations
University Press
TOKYO - NEW YORK - PARIS

UNUP-935
ISBN 92-808-0935-0


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