ABSTRACT
As we already know, urban conditions are moving towards an “urban age”, where urbanity in its varied forms is going to characterize the human habitat and become our dominant social condition in the “recent future”. Despite their differences, many cities around the world face some common challenges as they rapidly urbanize. Social, economic and increasingly spatial inequality is a repeated theme, with cities such as Karachi, Mumbai, Lagos, Jakarta Johannesburg or Mexico City, seriously struggling to find common ground for rich and poor. In both these cities, as in many others worldwide, slums and informal settlements continue to sprawl between gated and secured luxury suburbs. A city may have redeveloped its system, outgrown its capacity or lost it altogether. A growing reliance on shrinking natural resources is one of the most alarming challenges to be faced worldwide.
