Increasing attention is being paid by urban planners, municipal officials, and involved citizens to the liveability of cities, where half the world's population now lives (and counting). This global perspective presents a policy-oriented agenda, conceptualizing strategies in terms of qualitative balances: a balance of growth, social progress, and the environment; balance between stakeholders' interests; and a balance between public and private resources. Most challenges apply to developed as well as developing nations: the need for effective local governance; housing availability; urbanization, unemployment, and poverty patterns; women's rights; the role of information; and decentralized economies. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or. Read Less