Urban Issues and Sustainability

Abstract

This paper’s focus is to reflect on the global growth of urban areas, according to number and size of inhabitants and also according to the environmental, social, cultural and economic impact of this phenomenon. If city growth is an issue which addresses mainly developing countries such as China, India or the states in South America, the features acquired by urbanisation in the OCSE countries, currently undergoing economic and demographic contraction, lead towards a territorial dispersion of the built up areas with serious consequences especially in terms of soil use, pollution and loss of site identity. Thus, the solutions proposed by the various national and supranational programmes intended to guide global urbanisation to a greater sustainability must be differentiated between countries with fully developed economies from those whose economy is currently on the rise, and must also actively involve the local communities.