City Futures Confronting the Crisis of Urban Development

This book is a powerful indictment of the current consensus on how to cope with the hundreds of "mega-cities" of the developing world. These cities are the future, and the problems surrounding this influx of people--slums, poverty, unemployment and lack of governance--have been well-documented. Pieterse argues that the current "shelter for all" and "urban good governance" policies treat only the symptoms of the problem. Instead, he claims, there is an urgent need to reinvigorate civil society in these cities, to encourage radical democracy, economic resilience, social resistance and environmental sustainability folded into the everyday concerns of marginalized people.

Edgar Pieterse is Special Advisor to the Premier of the Western Cape in South Africa. He is a visiting Associate Professor in the Department of Public Management and Planning at the University of Stellenbosch, South Africa.