Global Urbanization

This volume surveys the current rapid growth in urban populations and begins to formulate a global urban agenda for the next half century. Drawing from a wide range of disciplines, contributors tackle issues ranging from how cities can keep up with fast-growing housing needs to the possibilities for public-private partnerships in urban governance.

For the first time in history, the majority of the world's population lives in urban areas. Much of this urbanization has been fueled by the rapidly growing cities of the developing world, exemplified most dramatically by booming megacities such as Lagos, Karachi, and Mumbai. In the coming years, as both the number and scale of cities continue to increase, the most important matters of social policy and economic development will necessarily be urban issues. Urbanization, across the world but especially in Asia and Africa, is perhaps the critical issue of the twenty-first century.

Global Urbanization surveys essential dimensions of this growth and begins to formulate a global urban agenda for the next half century. Drawing from many disciplines, the contributors tackle issues ranging from how cities can keep up with fast-growing housing needs to the possibilities for public-private partnerships in urban governance. Several essays address the role that cutting-edge technologies such as GIS software, remote sensing, and predictive growth models can play in tracking and forecasting urban growth. Reflecting the central importance of the Global South to twenty-first-century urbanism, the volume includes case studies and examples from China, India, Uganda, Kenya, and Brazil.

While the challenges posed by large-scale urbanization are immense, the future of human development requires that we find ways to promote socially inclusive growth, environmental sustainability, and resilient infrastructure. The timely and relevant scholarship assembled in Global Urbanization will be of great interest to scholars and policymakers in demography, geography, urban studies, and international development.

Part I. Twenty-First-Century Population Prospect: Emerging Needs
Chapter 1. World Urbanization: The Critical Issue of the Twenty-First Century
—-Eugenie L. Birch and Susan M. Wachter
Chapter 2. Human Population Grows Up
—Joel E. Cohen
Chapter 3. Measuring and Coping with Urban Growth in Developing Countries
—Nefise Bazoglu
Chapter 4. Urban Growth and Development at Six Scales: An Economist's View
—Stephen Malpezzi
Chapter 5. Urban Growth and Spatial Development: The China Case
—Anthony Yeh

Part II. Urban Spatial Growth and Development
Chapter 6. The Urban Transition in Developing Countries: Demography Meets Geography
—Mark R. Montgomery and Deborah Balk
Chapter 7. Measuring and Modeling Global Urban Expansion
—Stephen Sheppard
Chapter 8. Urban Growth Models: State of the Art and Prospects
—John D. Landis
Chapter 9. Monitoring Urban Growth and Its Environmental Impacts Using Remote Sensing: Examples from China and India
—Karen C. Seto
Chapter 10. Tracking Regional Growth and Development: The Nairobi Case
—Wilber K. Ottichilo

Part III. Urban Governance and Finance
Chapter 11. Strategic Directions for Local Public Finance in Developing Countries
—Paul Smoke
Chapter 12. Public-Private Partnerships and Urban Governance: Coordinates and Policy Issues
—Lynne B. Sagalyn
Chapter 13. City Building in China: Implications for Urban Form Efficiency
—Douglas Webster
Chapter 14. Financing Housing and Urban Services
—Kyung-Hwan Kim

Part IV. Cases in Urban Development
Chapter 15. Managing Urban Infrastructure and Services in India
—Vinod Tewari
Chapter 16. Sustainable Urban Development: Managing City Development in Uganda
—Shuaib Lwasa
Chapter 17. Thinking About Urban Services Needs in Fast-Growing Cities: Housing in São Paulo
—Suzana Pasternak
Chapter 18. The Education of Urban Dwellers: The Kenyan Experience
—Faith Macharia

Notes
Bibliography
List of Contributors
Index
Acknowledgments