Governing Our Cities: Will People Power Work

The global urban crisis has accelerated and many cities are still unable to provide even basic services to all their citizens. There is growing poverty, ethnic and racial violence, crime, homelessness and environmental degradation in urban areas - all of which have far-reaching social and political implications. Today, around half the world's population live in or around cities. In the last 40 years urban populations have increased five-fold and over the next 30 years 90 per cent of population growth will be in urban areas. As the special session of the UN assembly meets in New York on June 6 - 8 2001 to review progress since 1996, Panos is publishing a new report, Governing Our Cities: will people power work? assessing whether post-Istanbul urban strategies are succeeding. It concludes that although many nations are trying to take new approaches to the way they manage cities, they are doomed to fail unless governments work in tandem with other groups in society, and particularly the urban poor.

Printed copies can be ordered from the Panos Institute - contact Kelly Hawrylyshyn kellyh@panoslondon.org.uk