City Futures: confronting the crisis of urban development by Edgar Pieterse (Univ of Cape Town Press)

Cities are the future. In the past two decades, a global urban revolution has taken place, mainly in the South. The ‘mega-cities’ of the developing world are home to over 10 million people each and even smaller cities are experiencing unprecedented population surges. The problems surrounding this influx of people - slums, poverty, unemployment and lack of governance - have been well-documented.This book is a powerful indictment of the current consensus on how to deal with these challenges. Pieterse argues that the current ’shelter for all’ and ‘urban good governance’ policies treat only the symptoms, not the causes of the problem.

Instead, he claims, there is an urgent need to reinvigorate civil society in these cities, to encourage radical democracy, economic resilience, social resistance and environmental sustainability folded into the everyday concerns of marginalised people. Providing a dynamic picture of a cosmopolitan urban citizenship, City Futures is an essential guide to one of the new century’s greatest challenges.The ‘mega-cities’ of the developing world are home to over 10 million people each and even smaller cities are experiencing unprecedented population surges.

The problems surrounding this influx of people - slums, poverty, unemployment and lack of
governance - have been well-documented. This book provides ways on how to deal with these challenges.

DATE: Wed 27 August 2008
TIME: 5.30 for 6.00 pm
VENUE: Ike’s Books & Collectables, 48A Florida Road ph: 031-303-9214

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