Today almost one half of the world’s population lives in cities. The world’s cities are growing by one million people each week. Cities today play a significant role in development. They continue to attract migrants from rural areas because they enable people to advance socially and economically. Cities offer significant economies of scale in the provision of jobs, housing and services, and are important centres of productivity and social development. However, the stress of this rapid urban population growth is often overwhelming. The long list of afflictions includes urban poverty rates of up to 60 per cent. Despite growing investments, more than one third of the urban population live in substandard housing. Forty per cent of urban dwellers do not have access to safe drinking water or adequate sanitation. Primarily due to a rapid growth and a deteriorating urban environment, at least 600 million people in human settlements (cities, towns and villages) already live in health-and life-threatening situations, and almost 50 per cent of these are children. The high rate of urban population growth in most regions has led to common problems: congestion, lack of funds to provide basic services, a shortage of adequate housing and declining infrastructure, to name a few.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR M. Lakshmi Narasaiah
Dr. M. Lakshmi Narasaiah, has been working as Professor and Head, Department of Economics, Sri Krishnadevaraya University Post-Graduate Centre, Kurnool, Andhra Pradesh. He is a Post-Graduate in Economics and has secured first rank. He has received Ph.D., Degree from Sri Krishnadevaraya University, Anantapur, in 1987. He has worked as UGC JRF and UGC SRF. Starting his professional career as an Assistant Professor of Economics in Sri Krishnadevaraya University, Anantapur, he has been actively engaged in teaching and research for the past twenty years. He was associated with the Government of Andhra Pradesh. Planning Department in the center for planning and Development studies projects. He has extensively travelled abroad. He has to his credit 175 research papers published in reputed National and International Journals, a large number of book reviews and seminar papers besides supervising M.Phil., and Ph.D., studies. He is also working on number of research projects. He has frequently participated in national and international conference. He is author of 27 books. Prof. M. Lakshmi Narasaiah is a member of large number of national and international associations and is associated with academic in several universities and professional organization. He has been acting as a member of the "Review Committee" he various international economic journals.
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