The world's population is rapidly urbanizing but the affluence and development often associated with cities are far from equitably or sustainably distributed. Where it was once taken for granted that responsibility for urban development lay with the state, increasingly the emphasis has shifted to market-driven and public-private sector initiatives, which can marginalize the intended beneficiaries - the urban poor - from decision making and implementation. This text outlines the essential conditions for effective urban planning and management by placing bottom-up community initiatives at the heart of the push for equitable and sustainable development in cities. Crucially, the state must engage with both the market and civil society in pursuit of sustainable cities. Presenting a wide-ranging selection of case studies in rapidly urbanizing and transitional countries, from the poorest parts of Africa and Asia to the relatively developed United Kingdom, the authors describe and analyze innovations in how globally disadvantaged urban communities can be engaged in improving their living environments.

Preface * Part 1 Introduction: the Challenge of a Sustainable Urban Future - The Role of Institutions - Top-down and Bottom-up: the Challenge of Cities in the New Century * The State, the Market and Community: an Analytical Framework for Community and Self-development * Part 2 Case Studies: Lessons from International Experience in Key Urban Development Issues - The Role of Civil Society in Shelter at the Periphery: the Experience of Peri-urban Communities in Maputo, Mozambique * The State, Business and the Community: Abating Industrial Nuisance in Lahore, Pakistan * Urban Public Transport: The Development of a Regulatory Role for NGOs in Pakistan * Informal Development in the Market Socialist City: the Case of the Floating Population of Beijing * Urban Management and Community Development in Metro Manila * When Community Development Becomes a Political Bargaining Tool: the Case for Structural Change in Low Income Housing Provision in Costa Rica * Community-based Organizations and the Struggle for Land and Housing in South Africa: Urban Social Movements in Transition * Renegotiations Places: the Experience of Low-demand in Salford, England * Part 3 Analysis and Conclusions: Strengthening the Changing Role of Civil Society - Relationships Between the State and Civil Society and Their Importance for Sustainable Development * Civil Society and New Social Movements * Notes * References * Index