Approaches to sustainable development in cities of the South have focused too exclusively on narrow technical aspects of environmental protection, with no benefit to most residents in cities and peri-urban areas. However, in many countries of the South the disengagement of government along with budgetary constraints, a reliance on cost-recovery mechanisms within structural adjustment packages and increasing disparity between poor and rich, further reduces access by the poor to even the most rudimentary services. Development and Cities focuses on the political, social and economic viability of new or alternative approaches to urban management in the South that aim to increase access to adequate levels of basic services and healthy living and working conditions for all. Case-studies include cities in Argentina, Cuba, India, Pakistan, Peru, the Philippines, Tanzania and Zimbabwe.

Approaches to sustainable development in cities of the South have focused too exclusively on narrow technical aspects of environmental protection, with no benefit to most residents in cities and peri-urban areas. However, in many countries of the South the disengagement of government along with budgetary constraints, a reliance on cost-recovery mechanisms within structural adjustment packages and increasing disparity between poor and rich, further reduces access by the poor to even the most rudimentary services. Development and Cities focuses on the political, social and economic viability of new or alternative approaches to urban management in the South that aim to increase access to adequate levels of basic services and healthy living and working conditions for all. Case-studies include cities in Argentina, Cuba, India, Pakistan, Peru, the Philippines, Tanzania and Zimbabwe.