ABSTRACT
This part introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters. The part summarizes the experiences of metropolitan governance and planning in the twentieth century. It suggests new approaches that might help avoid the pitfalls of the past and meet the challenges of the twenty-first century. The part examines an array of strategies for neighborhood empowerment and planning. Metropolitan planning practice tends to be based on simplistic notions of master planning and master building that ignore the complex division of labour and functions characteristic of the modern metropolis. Neighbourhood planning is the key to integrating the household with the metropolis, residence and workplace. Metropolitan- and neighbourhood-level planning need to be integrated through a new set of political and social institutions, a new synthesis of state and civil society geared toward a metropolis of integrated diversity.
