ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts covered in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book focuses on the provision of services for the urban poor, including the special problems attached to carrying out such programmes and the specific characteristics of urban poverty which condition the need of the poor for these services. It concentrates on Asian experience and draws examples from other continents. The book then focuses on major cities where indeed most knowledge of urban poverty and of the operation of communal services has been acquired. In fact poverty in smaller cities may be as acute and, as the book focuses on water supply shows, the level of services provided may be extremely low. It also examines issues related to poverty and to the role of the government in providing services. The book explores the relation between absolute and relative poverty.
