Urban Poverty in Developing Countries

Urbanization got an impetus during 1980s and 1990s due to advances in transportation and telecommunication and further momentum was provided by globalization. During this period many Asian Countries experienced both economic boom and population increase. UN HABITAT (2006) pointed out that Asia and Africa will host largest urban population in 21st century and cities will continue to be sites of extreme inequality. It is feared that Asian cities may not be able to cope with the ongoing urbanization and urbanization of poverty further adds to the challenges. This edited volume addresses to the challenges thrown by urban poverty for sustainable cities in developing countries and also presents some strategies adopted in these countries to deal with these challenges. The volume contains seventeen articles which are divided into three sections. Section-1, entitled 'Urban Poverty in Developing Some Issues', contains five articles dealing with urban poverty and delineates certain issues related to it. Section-II, entitled 'Urban Poverty in Empirical Reality', contains five articles which present the empirical situation of urban poverty in India. Section-III, entitled 'Urban poverty and Strategies for Sustainable Cities', anthologizes seven articles dealing with some strategies to grapple with the problem of urban poverty in developing countries and the outcome of these efforts. All these efforts to achieve sustainable cities are not producing desired results. Cities cannot be sustainable if rural areas, neighborhoods and communities are not sustainable. So focus must shift to these settlements as well.