State of the World Cities 2006/2007: The Millennium Development Goals and Urban Sustainability

The 2006/2007 edition of the State of the World’s Cities focuses mainly on cities, slums and the Millennium Development Goals. Following a five-page overview, it is divided into four parts. Part I reviews urban trends, and includes a short essay by Peter Hall on why some cities flourish while others languish and a case study of China’s rising cities. It also gives a global overview of slums, including trends in the growth of slum populations, and regional overviews for Africa, Asia and Latin America and the Caribbean. There are also short essays on Mumbai’s quest for world city status, women-headed households in cities, age pyramids for slum and non-slum populations in Brazil and South Africa, and the shortcomings of the MDG on slum populations in relation to housing rights. There is also a section reviewing national trends in slum populations. This discusses which nations have had a rapid, sustained decline in slum growth rates and/or low slum prevalence; which countries are starting to stabilize or reverse slum growth rates; and which countries are at risk or off-track (in relation to meeting the Millennium Development Goals). Most low-income nations are off-track. This section ends with a summary of measures needed to meet the Millennium Development Goals in urban areas.

Part II provides a more detailed discussion of the state of the world’s slums – looking at issues of housing durability, overcrowding, deficiencies in safe water supply and provision for sanitation, and tenure issues. This includes an essay on the massive evictions in Harare in 2005, illustrated by aerial photos showing one of the affected areas before and after the eviction. Part III discusses how inadequate housing and lack of basic services threaten the health, education and employment opportunities of slum dwellers. This includes sections on: the social and health costs of living in a slum; hunger; infant and child mortality; and various diseases including diarrhoea, acute respiratory infections and HIV/AIDS. There is also a section discussing environmental problems in cities, with sections on air pollution, traffic deaths and the inadequacies of solid waste management systems. There are also sections on conflict and disaster in cities (including an essay on New Orleans and hurricane Katrina) and urban insecurity.

Part IV is an assessment of slum upgrading and prevention policies in different nations, which highlights the countries where slum policies are effective and where pro-poor reforms on slum upgrading are being implemented. It also discusses what governments and international agencies should do to address the problem of slums.