ABSTRACT
Human settlements are a spatial mapping of socio-economic and cultural political ramifications of society. In the past century, we have witnessed the emergence of large cities as a result of economies of density and scale. These forms of human settlement suffer often from environmental hazards and health risks posed by air, water and surface pollution, substandard housing, poor sanitation and in general, lack of basic services. These negative urban factors are disproportionately distributed among urban inhabitants. Especially in Third World cities the poor tend to live in ecologically vulnerable areas and on marginal lands. Thus, large cities often show an unsustainable picture of economic efficiency, social equity and environmental decay. This tension will increase in the future, as the main part of the growth of world population will reside in urban areas, a trend which will likely be accelerated due to the liberalisation of the world economy and the transition towards a global network society in which urban nodes will play a key role. A critical question is then whether urban management and local political leadership will be sufficiently strong and effective so as to implement a proper proactive urban policy in a multi-faceted field fraught with conflicts: traffic, pollution, waste, energy, congestion, infrastructure, sanitation, or public services.
