THIS IS THE latest in a series of books from the United Nations University Programme on Mega-cities and Urban Development. It is divided into 11 chapters, each written by a prominent urban planning scholar or expert in the field. The first two chapters set the context of the book by looking at the Latin American mega-city in general and at demographic trends since 1950. Sectoral issues follow in a series of chapters which explore public administration, transportation and housing. Having presented these important issues, the book provides case studies of Latin America's six largest cities – Mexico City, Sao Paulo, Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro, Bogota and Lima – to illustrate how these issues manifest themselves. They provide readable and comprehensive information on issues such as population growth and structure, the urban economy, income distribution, poverty, housing and crime. The book concludes on an optimistic note with a chapter by Alan Gilbert on Bogota which, unlike most other cities in the region, has not suffered from the recession and debt burden of the 1980s and where most of the population seem to have improved the quality of their lives in recent years.

The conclusions that emerge from this book are, first, that the future prospects of each of the cities vary greatly. It is far easier to be optimistic about Buenos Aires than Lima. Second, the size of the city has little to do with determining urban conditions. Trends in the wider economy and society are more relevant than size. Finally, good urban management is critical for the future, but it is difficult to know whether the quality of management will improve or deteriorate with time.