ABSTRACT
Third World urbanisation cannot be understood in global isolation nor in an historical vacuum. Just as it is all too easy to omit that urbanisation and urbanism originated in what is currently referred to as the Third World, so it is tempting to succumb to the notion that contemporary Third World urbanisation represents an entirely distinct process. Whilst we should concur with Berry (1973) that there have been divergent paths in the urban experience of the twentieth century, equally, we must recognise that present-day urban development in poor countries is a direct outcome of the last five centuries of world development. To a considerable extent, therefore, the processes that led to mercantile trade, distant colonialism, imperialism and post war independence were also agents responsible in promoting contemporary urban forms in less developed countries. Thus, no account of contemporary Third World urbanisation can ignore the historical interdependence of the countries now comprising the so-called First, Second and Third Worlds.
