ABSTRACT
Rapid urbanization and an increase in the number of large cities continues throughout most parts of the world. In Africa as a whole, according to the World Bank, the number of people living in cities has doubled, and the cities have grown twice as fast as overall populations. A measure of the effectiveness of comprehensive city planning will be whether it is possible to control the cycle of over-building that is characteristic of so many central cities in the United States. A few private developers identify a market demand for more office buildings downtown; other developers “follow the leader” until the central area of the city is greatly overbuilt. Neighborhood satisfactions, dissatisfactions, political attitudes, and voting can change rapidly since city dwellers in the United States move their place of residence approximately every five years.
