Guided in focus by the UN Millennium Development Goals, this new State of the World’s Cities volume considers the wide range of issues that affect the lives of (mainly poor) urban dwellers: water and sanitation, shelter, overcrowding, malnutrition, HIV/AIDS, education, employment, and more.

A decade ago, public and private water and sanitation were typically presented as very distinct alternatives.

This paper was developed for the Ford Foundation. It covers the key aspects of a pro-poor and ecologically sustainable urban agenda for Africa. Drawing mainly on African researchers and activists, it reviews urban trends on the continent and discusses how these have to be understood in relation to the multiple linkages between rural and urban areas.

This paper explores the nature and role of non-farm employment, access to urban markets and migration in the livelihoods of the residents of two villages in Vietnam’s Red River delta. The case study province, Ha Nam, presents many of the challenges that the region and the nation will need to address in the near future. With growing population density and land scarcity, poverty reduction and local economic growth will increasingly depend on the development of non-farm employment in the micro-enterprise sector and on increased productivity and access to markets for agriculture. At the same time, migration (especially temporary movement) and remittances will continue to play a key role in the province’s economic, social and cultural transformations.

In this edition, articles include:City-wide upgrading in Thailand; Finance for low-income housing in Central America; The framework for slum upgrading in Mumbai, India; Housing and citizenship in Sao Paulo, Brazil; A Church’s contribution to land redistribution in South Africa; The growing problem of forced evictions worldwide; A twin-track approach to improving the lives of slum dwellers; State and civil society in a Havana barrio, Cuba; Environmental management in Chiang Mai, Thailand; Water and sanitation in Moreno, Buenos Aires; Pro-poor governance in Bangalore’s public water sector.

Many of the most intense pollution and resource pressures originate in urban centres, and have their major impacts on the surrounding regions. Peri-urban zones are often far more environmentally unstable than either urban or rural settings. Rural–urban burdens can be especially difficult to accommodate within existing administrative systems/boundaries, particularly in countries where public authorities face severe financial difficulties. This paper provides a policy-oriented review of those environmental burdens in low-and middle-income countries that cross rural–urban boundaries but are not national or global in scale.

A preliminary effort to identify whether, and to what extent, indigenous peoples enjoy the right to adequate housing in different regions of the world. Includes seven case studies on the status of housing for indigenous peoples – in practice and in law – and reviews policies and programmes aimed at addressing their disadvantage.