ABSTRACT
Traditionally, the words “developing country” evoked pastoral images of rural villages and small-scale agriculture. Following World War II, the dramatic growth of urban populations added scenes of crowded city streets filled with motor scooters, trucks carrying goods and fuels, and vendors cooking food. By 1980, about 900 million people lived in urban areas in the developing world; today, there are more than 2 billion urban dwellers. Rural population growth rates have leveled off in many developing countries, while urban growth rates now average more than 3.3 percent annually. In some cities, urban growth rates have reached levels of 7 to 8 percent per year (World Bank 1998).
