Book
Urbanization
Its Global Trends, Economics and Governance
Small scale neighbourhoods - countryside and small towns are often seen as ideal living environments. Yet large cities all over the world are growing rapidly. A contradiction seems to exist between what people want and what, in fact, is evolving. The economics of urbanization - as described in this book - provides us means to explain the apparent paradox between the desires and actions of people moving into cities. According to the most recent predictions, the number of people living in cities will double during the next thirty years. This raises a problem how to best govern this development. The decisions of governments, non-governmental organizations, companies and households will all play a role in the evolution of the urbanization. Our book discusses the problem of governance of urbanization: the decisions different players will be facing, and the role of the markets and government policies.