What can be done to beat urban poverty?
The challenge of urban poverty is growing every year. It is predicted that over 95% of global population growth between 2000 and 2030 will take place in the cities of the developing world. If current trends continue the majority of those will end up in slums. Three-quarters of global population increase is currently occurring in the urban South, causing rapid growth in cities that struggle to accommodate this unprecedented upsurge. Urban population growth is particularly pronounced in Asia – by 2010 over half of urban citizens will be living in Asia – a considerable difference from 1950 when over 50 per cent of the global urban population was in Europe and North America. Urban poverty is linked to a number of global issues that are of significant concern to governments and development agencies. The Millennium Development Goals specifically target urban poverty, seeking to ‘improve the lives of 100 million slum dwellers by 2010’, and to do this it is recognised that agencies increasingl
