ABSTRACT
Notwithstanding tendencies to suburbanization almost everywhere, humans tend to live in a more and more urbanized world. In every country problems such as housing, transportation, drugs and deprivation, security and delinquency, en vironmental pollution, quality of water and air have become major issues. Educa tion, however, has been little concerned with such issues. This educational gap in countries of East and West, developed and developing, is one of the causes of the lack of democratic discourses on urban issues: urbanism is perceived as a highly specialized and technical field the understanding of which is restricted to experts, rather than as a field of political competition concerning people, neighbourhoods and communities, and life choices. But technical expertise is not enough to provide for a good urban environment.
