ABSTRACT
This chapter outlines the social, economic and political context which will shape the urban future. It describes the main actors who will be responsible for building and financing this urban future, and it contrasts an urban future where no changes are made in government policies with an urban future where urban populations’ development concerns are addressed. Unless there are major changes in prevailing trends, most of the people who will live in ‘the future city’ will live in relatively small cities, not in large metropolitan areas or so-called ‘mega-cities’. To a large extent, the future city will be planned, financed, built and shaped by people with low incomes: garbage collectors or scavengers, shoemakers, pedlars, those making clothes, foods and crafts in their homes, maids, low-paid government clerks, office messengers and drivers, low-paid factory workers, shoeshiners, market sellers, and so on.
