This study presents a comprehensive account of Third World urbanization by reaching across disciplinary boundaries and regional specializations. It discusses the evolution of Third World cities as part of the world system; the nature of urban and regional disparities within countries; the causes and patterns of rural-urban migration; the structure of urban labour markets and the lack of productive employment; the urban housing market and popular responses to it; urban ways of life and the adaptation of migrants; various patterns of political conflict; and current issues in urban and regional planning. The book does not aim to be neutral in its review of different ideas and strategies and is sometimes provocative. It reviews and criticizes the principal ideas relating to development and urbanization drawing on both liberal and Marxist perspectives in an effort to relate urban phenomena to the process of development in an unequal world. At the same time it is cognizant of the fact that major economic and cultural differences exist within the Third World; because these variations are so great it argues that no single response to the urbanization process can be devised. This work should be of interest to all those concerned with development problems in the social sciences and in urban and regional planning.
