At their best, cities are engines of growth and incubators of civilization. They are crossroads of ideas, places of great intellectual ferment and innovation. They can also be models of democracy and multicultural coexistence. Many of us are fortunate enough to live in cities not just by chance, but because we choose to do so. But the very same cities can also be places of exploitation, disease, violent crime, unemployment, underemployment and extreme poverty.
Most urban poor can find housing only in dilapidated and unsafe squatter settlements or slums.
They lack water, sanitation and other basic municipal services. Typically, there are no schools or clinics within easy reach, no centres where the community can meet and no safe places for children to play. We see drug abuse, pollution and fear. We see people marginalized, and largely disenfranchised. And as always, the most vulnerable are women and children.