Abstract from the publisher:
This book is among the most comprehensive studies of a city since Edgar M. Hoover and Raymond Vernon analyzed New York City thirty-five years ago in the classic
. The main lesson outlined in the current book is that the most practical way of coping with city growth is to establish institutional mechanisms that can respond to the rapidly changing and unpredictable demands of a city's residents. Unlike much writing on cities and urbanization in the developing world, this study includes reasons for optimism that the expansion of fast-growing cities in the developing world can be managed.