World Resources 1996-97: A Guide to the Global Environment: The Urban Environment

The seventh biannual issue of the most authoritative report on the global environment brings together in a highly readable format the latest ideas on a broad spectrum of urban environmental issues and suggests strategies for addressing them. The authors pool the vast resources of the World Resources Institute, the United Nations Development and Environment Programmes, and the World Bank to analyze the impact of urban development on human health and welfare, on the environment, and on economic performance.
The report provides a fascinating analysis of the environmental challenges facing the world's cities--where 50 percent of the global population will live by the year 2000. Included in this comprehensive survey are cities such as Detroit, where urban sprawl is leading to poverty and environmental degradation in the inner city core; Manila, where three out of every four people live in unauthorized housing; Mexico City, where air pollution contributes to 6,400 deaths each year; and densely packed Jakarta, whose 8 million residents live without a water-borne sewage system. The 170-page section on the urban environment includes a comparison of urban conditions and trends throughout the developing and developed world, a sobering look at the impacts of urban environmental conditions on human health and productivity, a timely analysis of how urban transportation systems are contributing to environmental problems, and, finally, a close-up look at creative strategies based on case studies from cities and communities across the globe.
True to its reputation as the definitive reference on the world environment, the new Report also includes up-to-date tables and analysis on numerous topics, including basic economic indicators, forests and rangelands, atmosphere and climate, biodiversity, and water resources. Key data on more than 150 countries are included. Published simultaneously in seven languages, this indispensable resource arms students and decisionmakers with valuable information for the development of policies that effectively and sparingly manage the global environment and natural resources.

World Resources Institute (WRI) is an environmental non-profit think tank based in Washington, D.C. It was established in 1982 by James Gustave (Gus) Speth. WRI is an independent, non-partisan and nonprofit organization with a staff of more than 100 scientists, economists, policy experts,
business analysts, statistical analysts, mapmakers, and communicators developing and promoting policies with the intention of protecting the Earth and improving peoples lives.