MOST OF THE chapters in this book consider either basic services (most water supply and sanitation) or community participation. It combines 19 chapters on India with two general chapters and seven that look at experiences from other countries. The chapters were developed from papers presented at a Conference organized by the Institute of Social Sciences in Delhi in November 1991. The section on India takes up three quarters of the book and has a mix of general chapters and case studies. The general chapters include a review of urban change up to 1991, the financing of water and sanitation, the pricing of urban water supply, local resource mobilization among municipal bodies and the options for strengthening municipal government for urban India. Case study chapters cover such issues as sanitation and garbage management in Delhi “slums”, the quality of life in the industrial city of Rourkela, water and sewerage in Ahmedabad, and basic amenities in Bhubaneswar. The issue of community participation is considered in several chapters, including a critical review of people’s participation in the implementation of the Ganga Action Plan at Varanasi. Chapters on international experience include a description of the provision of basic services in Pakistan, Turkey and Egypt, and of contemporary urbanization in Sri Lanka and chapters examining water supply and/ or sanitation in Latin American towns, Beijing and Sao Paulo. There are also two chapters on different aspects of community action or participation - one in Nepal, the other in Kenya.