he cities of the developing world are the engines of economic growth, but they also face and cause multiple and pressing environmental issues. Those highlighted at the 1992 “Earth Summit” included water supply, sanitation, and pollution, and shaped the “brown agenda.” A decade later, this agenda includes the interactions between cities and the regional and global environment. This note reviews ...

As cities grow, they add jobs and services, becoming more complex economically as well as physically. The need for new jobs places huge demands on cities that are struggling to provide the public services that growth demands, often in the face of existing unemployment. In the developing world, many of the new jobs needed are for unskilled and relatively uneducated workers, both migrants and tho...

Today, at least one-fifth of all people worldwide lack access to safe drinking water, a problem that will almost certainly worsen as the earth's population grows. Although the vast majority of industrial discharges into waterways are regulated and treated, and most cities and towns effectively monitor and treat their sewage for chemical contaminants, problems such as arsenic contamination and d...

Although there is a general consensus on which are the leading world cities, there is no agreedupon roster covering world cities below the highest level. This paper reports the construction of an inventory of world cities based upon their level of advanced producer services. Global service centres are identified and graded for accountancy, advertising, banking/finance and law. Aggregating these...

This paper presents an assessment of the air quality for the principal cities in developed and developing countries. Part of the vast and widely dispersed information on air quality that is available at this time on the Internet was compiled, thus making possible a comprehensive evaluation of the tendencies that emerged at the end of the 20th century. Likewise, these values are compared to the ...

This paper reviews worldwide activities on regional information spaces. In the US and Canada, a large number of community networks appeared in the early 1990s. As a platform for community networks, information spaces using the city metaphor are being developed worldwide. In Europe, more than one hundred digital cities have been tried. Asian countries are actively adopting the latest information...

This contribution outlines the broad historical implications of scientific research on the Transcendental Meditation program for developing enlightened individuals, an enlightened society, cultural integrity, and world peace. This address, presented in October 1974, includes Maharishi's projection that one percent of a population participating in the Transcendental Meditation program will cause...

How does isolation affect the economic activity of cities? Transport costs are widely considered an important barrier to local economic activity but their impact in developing countries is not well-studied. This paper investigates the role of intercity transport costs in determining the income of sub-Saharan African cities. In particular, focusing on fifteen countries whose largest city is a po...

This article discusses the issue of priorities in development in urban centers of developing countries. Urbanization is advancing rapidly in the developing world. There are needs for adequate infrastructure, environmental protection, and fiscal reform. Development can result in a reduction in poverty, if properly conducted. By the turn of the century, 8 of the world's 10 megacities will be ...