Within a generation, the majority of the developing world's population will live in cities and towns. The scale and nature of the urbanisation process is unprecedented, and has not yet been met by the necessary policy responses by the majority of affected governments and regions.
Cities exist and continue to grow because they offer opportunities and the promise of a better life.
Cities and towns are the site of history, of politics and society, culture and humanity, wonderfully complex places of human exchange, as well as marketplaces. In too many countries, however, urbanisation is poorly managed, leading to significant social and environmental costs, made starkly visible by massive growth in urban poverty and social exclusion. We must not let trends and statistics obscure the human faces behind the data, and the need to put a human rights perspective into the design of appropriate policy responses. For many millions of people around the world, urban living is a daily nightmare of survival, far removed from the safety and prosperity held out by city visionaries. In many cities of the developing world, up to one half of the population lives in slum or squatter settlements, with little or no access to basic amenities such as water and sanitation.