World Cities: The Critical Issues

Millions of urban families in the so-called Third World face a severe housing problem. They live in homes that lack adequate sanitation, have an irregular electricity supply and are built of flimsy materials. However, the form that the housing problem takes varies greatly between and within countries: homelessness is significant in some places, elsewhere the main problem is one of overcrowding or the unavailability of infrastructure and services. In many Third World cities most poor families rent accommodation, elsewhere they are forced to live in their 'own 'flimsy shelter One relatively constant feature is that housing in the countryside is generally worse than that in urban areas.