Urbanisation links and resources

Websites Print resources Videos AusAID resources

ESCAP Population Data Sheet URL:  http://www.unescap.org/esid/psis/population/database/data_sheet/ This data sheet is published by the Population and Rural and Urban Development Division of ESCAP (Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific). It includes data on populations, annual growth rates, crude birth rates, crude death rates, life expectancy and other population-related statistics. Population Reference Bureau URL:  http://www.prb.org/ The Population Reference Bureau provides timely and objective information on US and international population trends and their implications. The bureau informs policymakers, educators and the media around the world through a broad range of activities, including publications, information services, seminars and workshops, and technical support. Urbanization (Youthink) URL:  http://youthink.worldbank.org/issues/urbanization/ This is an urbanisation issues page from the World Bank's Youthink site. Cities, large and small, are at the heart of a rapidly changing global economy and are a cause of and response to world economic growth.

Print resources Title: State of the World's Cities 2006/2007: The Millennium Goals and Urban Sustainability Author: UN-HABITAT Description: State of the World’s Cities Report 2006/7 has broken new ground by showing that the urban poor suffer from an urban penalty: Slum dwellers in developing countries are as badly off if not worse off than their rural relatives. ISBN: 92-1-131811-4 Age group: Upper secondary Where to get it: http://www.unhabitat.org/pmss/getPage.asp?page=bookView&book=2101 Videos Title: Transforming the city Author: People's Planet Series (2001) Description: Environmentally sustainability is a major issue for large cities. Each city requires vast expanses of rural land to supply its needs and absorb its waste products. 'Transforming the City' examines four major cities: Shanghai, Cairo, London and Curitiba (Brazil), looking not only their common problems of food supply, waste disposal and pollution but initiatives that move the cities towards sustainability. It features urban gardens, small factories that use recycled materials, sewerage converted to farm fertiliser, garbage recycling schemes and many other strategies that the city of the future must adopt on a large scale, in order to survive. Age group: Upper secondary Where to get it: Video Education Australasia http://www.vea.com.au/ Title: Population, settlement and change: A case study: the Solomon Islands Author: Fulloon, Sandra (writer and producer); Davis, John (executive producer) (1995) Description: This is a study of changing settlement patterns in the Solomon Islands as it moves from tribal society based on a subsistence economy to a monetised, urban society. It explores the implications of fast population growth, urbanisation, increasing health problems and environmental pollution. It outlines how health education through popular theatre and subsistence gardening on urban fringe land are working to combat some of these problems. The impacts of cash cropping, logging and commercial fisheries are also discussed. Teacher guide available online. Duration: 28 mins Age group: Lower secondary Where to get it: Classroom Video http://www.classroomvideo.com/ AusAID resources Focus articles Focus, a quarterly magazine published by the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID), provides a variety of items about how the Australian Government's overseas aid program addresses specific global issues. You can subscribe to Focus online or order printed copies at: http://www.ausaid.gov.au/publications/pubs.cfm?Type=PubFocus

Getting Connected in Bangalore URL:  http://www.ausaid.gov.au/publications/focus/focuspdfs/1202/focus1202_17.pdf Article from the Summer 2002/2003 issue of AusAID's Focus magazine describing water supply and sanitation pilot projects that have brought lasting change for three struggling communities in the city of Bangalore, in southern India, which has become the Silicon Valley of the sub-continent. Street Kids and Slum Dwellers: Making a Lasting Difference in Maharastra URL:  http://www.ausaid.gov.au/publications/focus/focuspdfs/0700/streetkids.pdf Article from the July 2000 issue of AusAID's Focus magazine describing several projects funded by the Australian Government aid program in the Indian State of Maharastra, providing hope for a better future for some of India’s poorest people. Includes information about a community housing organisation that helps slum dwellers of Mumbai, women working as wastepickers and the formation of a cooperative store; relocation of people living along the railway lines of Mumbai and a Street Children's Project. Urbanisation in Asia: Lessons Learned and Innovative Responses URL:  http://www.ausaid.gov.au/publications/pdf/urban_asia.pdf This report presents the findings of a study on urbanisation in four Asian cities: Cebu (Philippines), Calcutta (India), Phnom Penh (Cambodia) and Hanoi (Vietnam) plus a review of best practice in support of urban poverty alleviation and sustainable development.