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The book consists of twenty-seven chapters, most of which draw on empirical research and data from various Nigerian urban centres. Beginning with concepts, indicators and theoretical issues, the book deals with various facets of urban poverty and the urban poor. Then it focuses on income generation and occupational structure among the urban poor and examine the impact of the developmental process, particularly the urban planning process and projects, on the urban poor. It also deals with the issue of housing, environment and transportation of the urban poor and focuses on the provision of services and infrastructure for the urban poor. Coping mechanisms and institutional support for the urban poor are also discussed

The convergence of economic & political crises of the 1980s & 1990s contributed to the unraveling of Venezuela's representative democracy. As a result of these crises, mass dissatisfaction with the institutions & policies implemented by the Punto Fijo regime paved the way for the emergence of a charismatic leader who appealed to sectors previously excluded. Understanding the arrival of Chavez & consolidation of the Bolivarian political project cannot be fully understood without attention to the role of the urban poor. The economic crisis that began in the early 1980s heightened the urban poor concern with public policy. Despite the many policy initiatives designed in the Punto Fijo era to aid the urban poor, the interrelated developments of the 1983 economic crisis & the demise of Venezuela's two-party political system created discontent as the urban poor were sidelined from Venezuelan politics allowing Chavez to become figure around whom the urban poor could unite. The crumbling of Venezuela's two-party political system & diminished party control over politics & government paved the way for new perspectives to be heard. The unraveling of Punto Fijo democracy & the rise of the Bolivarian Republic sheds light on the dynamics of political and change occurring in polyarchies located in the gray zone. The Venezuelan experience confirms the thesis that a critical condition for the transition from limited pluralism to a hybrid regime has been the political transformation of the urban poor. Chavez's relationship with the urban poor is best depicted as a race against the clock in which, the prolonged honeymoon period of his presidency will not last indefinitely against the pragmatism of the urban poor. References. J. Harwell

The focus of this paper is the effect of contemporary globalization on poverty and inequality in cities of the 'global south'. Specifically it addresses the impact of globalization on marginalized communities—slums, squatter settlements and shantytowns—collectively called 'informal settlements'. This is a timely issue given that over the next 25 years virtually all of the population growth worldwide will be in the cities of developing countries largely concentrated in such settlements. The paper takes a critical look at current assumptions about globalization, urban poverty, and inequality, distinguishing between different constructs and aspects of globalization and separating causality from co-terminality. It questions how the informal sector would fare in the face of advanced capitalism and technological transformations, absent the global component. Using Brazil as an example the paper draws comparisons between the lives of the poor during the isolationist period of 'import substitution' and the military dictatorship and their current lives in the context of pervasive globalization of ideas, icons, and identities. The findings are based on a longitudinal panel study conducted in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro between 1968 and 2005, examining the changes over time, space and generations. The presumed effects of globalization on the lives of the urban poor, on the levels of inequality between them and the rest of the city and on public policy are thrown into question. The answers are sought in the people's perceptions of the impact of globalization on their lives, in the historic transformations of the country and city, and in the life history, survey data and open-ended interviews collected over this 35- year period.