Sustainable urban development

Abstract

Human settlements, where people live, are a major focus of consideration in examining progress and prospects for sustainable development. Much of the attention is focused on urban areas, which occupy only 3 per cent of the world’s land surface but, by 2008, were expected to contain some 3.3 billion people – and to swell to almost 5 billion by 2030 (UNFPA 2007). These dynamics reflect an urbanising as well as globalising world, and nowhere perhaps is this more evident than in China where rapid economic and urban growth have gone hand in hand. As many have pointed out, the challenges and opportunities of global trends in urban growth may present the defining challenge of sustainable development in this century, requiring a rethinking of current approaches to this issue, internationally and nationally (World Bank 2009a, 2009b). Of particular concern is how to address the impacts of urbanisation in the developing world where cities are being rapidly transformed and face difficult pressures, particularly in the fast growing peri-urban fringe.

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