Publisher's Synopsis
Urbanization is a global phenomenon, involving a transformation of society and its settlement patterns. In this volume, twenty-two experts show the diversity of that phenomenon as they analyse the urban settlement systems of their native countries. The papers in this volume document the changing settlement patterns of countries representing North and South America, Western and Eastern Europe, Japan, Asia, and North Africa. The focus of each paper is growth, current structure, and current dynamics of "systems" of urban settlements. The contributors examine the varied policy reponses to urbanization and to the problems of particular settlements among individual countries, as well as the prospects for designing more efficient and equitable settlement systems in the future.;Students and scholars of geography, planning, urban studies and regional development; practitioners in planning, design, and development work; government officials; urban planners.
