Many of our global cities are distressed and facing a host of issues: economic collapse in the face of rising expectations, social disintegration and civil unrest, and ecological degradation and the threats associated with climate change, including more frequent and more severe natural disasters. Our long-held assumptions about man and nature and how they interact are defunct. We realize now that we can no longer continue to build without addressing the long-term impacts of our actions and their spillovers. Energy and natural resources are finite. The way we configure economies has come into...

Viewing poverty as a condition that is fed and renewed on a daily basis by social and economic structures, this book focuses on the ways in which poor residents can be helped to improve their own situations, their living conditions, and the central city itself. Also includes four maps.