ABSTRACT
By the year 2000, for the first time in history, more than half the world's population will live in cities. Cities are reaching the limits of their carrying capacity to support human life. Urban systems designed hundreds years ago for cities of a much smaller scale and seemingly inexhaustible natural resources are totally inadequate for the needs of the 21st Century. In the 1970s, as the city continued to grow and the amount of daily garbage skyrocketed, Cairo's trash collection needs began to overtake the Zabbaleen's capacity to provide services. When the government threatened to look to more modern and efficient systems to dispose of the city's waste, the Zabbaleen faced the possible loss of their traditional livelihood. Ghana has a dual economy consisting of a traditional agricultural sector and a growing urban market sector. Surveys from the Ghana Living Standards Measurement Study show that, in 1987, urban households spent about 60 per cent of their income on food.
