In developing and developed countries alike, the most acute predicament arising from rapid urbanization is the increasing number of people living in unhealthy, unsafe, inhumane conditions, without adequate access to employment, basic infrastructure and essential services. The lack of facilities for waste disposal, safe water supply, and sanitation is a primary factor affecting health and economic productivity. The failure to provide for social development, employment, and public safety is a principal cause of alienation, the breakdown of community structure, and social unrest. These issues, and those of shelter, energy, and transport underlie the agenda for sustainable development which can only be addressed through human settlements management and enabling strategies at the national, metropolitan, local, and community levels. Economic trends in the twentieth century, driven by commodity and capital flows, have disrupted the harmony between countryside and city.
Human settlements constitute the main focus for national investment priorities and strategies.
Simply increasing the allocation of scarce resources to human settlements, however, is no guarantee that benefits will reach the majority of the population. Investment and management strategies in an urbanizing society, in order to be effective, must comprehensively incorporate the contributions of society, including the poor. Innovative management processes and technologies must be enlisted to help identify, mobilize, and equitably allocate all available resources. To face the challenge, government, private, non-profit, and corporate organizations, all with interests vested in the future of cities, must be mobilized. These issues emphasise the urgent need for a fresh human settlements agenda based on the compelling argument that there must be better understanding of the pivotal role that well-managed human settlements can play in bringing about equitable social development, economic growth, and a better quality of life for all.