With the escalating increase in global population and urbanisation extending to the growth of megacities in the 'Third World', existing cities and towns sprawling outwards more or less unchecked, and older cities decaying and changing their industrial base, geoscientists are being called on to tackle problems in the urban setting and also to consider problems raised by urbanisation and affecting areas outside the urban limits and even the environmental health of the globe in general. The increasing demand for geoscientific input to planning of urban land use, rectifying problems of decay and...