In academic and policy discourse, urbanisation and cities are currently receiving a great deal of attention, and rightly so. Both have been central to the enormous transformation the world has been going through during the past few centuries. Many parts of the world have experienced and are experiencing an urban transformation.

The world is in the midst of a long and uneven urban transition, with the great majority of urbanisation and urban population growth now occurring in parts of Asia and Africa. Urbanisation has profound effects on local rural and urban economies, life chances and environments, though much depends on how it is handled.

Rural-urban migration continues to attract much interest, but also growing concern. Migrants are often blamed for increasing urban poverty, but not all migrants are poor.

There is an emerging consensus that urbanisation is critically important to international development, but considerable confusion over what urbanisation actually is; whether it is accelerating or slowing; whether it should be encouraged or discouraged; and, more generally, what the responses should be.

Cities can use a range of principles and approaches to integrate the environment in urban planning and management. This report is intended to encourage and support urban decision-makers in this process. It starts with recognizing that action taken in towns and cities is essential for addressing global environmental problems.

Cities can use a range of principles and approaches to integrate the environment in urban planning and management. This report is intended to encourage and support urban decision-makers in this process. It starts with recognizing that action taken in towns and cities is essential for addressing global environmental problems.

Urbanization and urban growth are intricately intertwined with economic growth — and the BRICS are no exception. The BRICS’ vastly different individual experiences of ‘urban transition’ offer inspiring examples of how to seize urbanization’s opportunities, but also lessons on the pitfalls and problems~inappropriate policies can bring.

An estimated 800 million urban dwellers lack access to safe and adequate drinking water. Most of those people live in unplanned, low-income areas and slums. The vital role of groundwater for this group remains largely unexplored despite that some 50 per cent of all urban water use worldwide is attributed to well, spring and borehole sources.

This paper specifically describes the urbanization experience of
Brazil, by far the largest country in Latin America, and which has
attained levels of urbanization that surpass those of most European
countries.