Introduction: cities and slums in the Global South – the importance of gender

Introduction It is well known that over half the global population is now urban, and that despite some exceptions, mainly in sub-Saharan Africa (see Fox, 2011; Potts, 2012a, 2012b; Satterthwaite, 2010), the trend to greater concentration of people in towns and cities is likely to continue as the twenty-first century wears on. By 2030, for example, an anticipated two-thirds or more of the world’s inhabitants will be urban, with the vast bulk of future growth accounted for by developing areas (UNDESA, 2014a:1; UN-Habitat, 2012a:ix; see also Jones et al., 2014; McGranahan and Satterthwaite, 2014).