| The global scale and impact of urban settlements and cities will determine the course of the emergent 21st century. Cities are no longer isolated and responding only to local and regional influences. Very large cities—megacities—are exploding in size and growth, for the most part in newly developing regions of the globe. The impact of this growth, however, is not isolated. The urban explosion is international in its origins and in its influences, affecting every continent and country, as a result of globalization, multinational political affiliations, telecommunications, transport and commerce (Fig. 1).Urban design of human settlements and cities—what they are as a result of explosive growth and what they could be if guided by urban design instead of happenstance—is thus the foremost agenda for planners and design professionals throughout the world. Cities have shaped mankind. They now shape the quality of life for the entire biosphere of earth. But today, city building is subject to the unplanned and often chaotic flow of humankind undergoing unprecedented growth, migration, and an attendant diminution of natural resources, beyond the limits of sustainable life. Left to their own, these trends are aggravating if not destroying the hoped-for urban promise of employment, health, safety, equity and opportunity. The future of cities with a sustainable quality of life and values of civil society can result only by design. |