Urbanization. Sector Working Paper

摘要

Problems of urban poverty and unemployment, of inadequacy of housing and urban infrastructure, have been recorded throughout history. What most distinguishes the current urban problems of the developing countries is their scale and intensity. The severity of the problems reflects primarily the rapidity of overall population growth and the acute shortage of resources with which to equip the additions to urban population. The World Bank recently decided to supplement its activities in individual sectors with a more direct focus on problems of urbanization. As this is a new field for the Bank, the discussion and policy proposals contained in this paper are more tentative than for fields in which the Bank has many years' experience.