Tomorrow's Crises Today: The Humanitarian Impact of Urbanisation

by United Nations Centre for Human Settlements

This photo book focuses on different humanitarian problems facing the urban poor by taking illustrations from different cities around the world. We cover a range of ills that affect the urban poor such as the lack of decent housing, water, work, sanitation, protection from nature and vulnerability to food deficit and slum violence. This book is a collaboration between UN-HABITAT and IRIN and is designed to coincide with the World Habitat Day on 1 October 2007. It focuses specifically on the human penalty of growing cities and slums.

112 pages, Paperback

Published December 20, 2007

Reviews

[Selina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ten cities were selected to highlight the hardship faced by the dwellers in the slums. Large proportion of the population in these cities live in poverty, building temporary shelters in crowded slums which provides no public services, clean water, sanitation facilities. No only do they lack medical supplies, education opportunities and secure employment, they have no easy access to food because they are too poor to buy food.

The conditions of the slums are appalling, yet millons of people migrate to the cities and do not turn back. Some have a better life in the cities. For those who don't, I wonder why they stay. Inability to accept a bad decision made in migrating to the cities ? To be together with new and old friends in the cities ? More excitement in the city, giving rise to more (false?) hopes ?