After modernity: contemporary non-western cities and architecture

Non-western cities have gone through an extraordinary period of growth and expansion during the last half century. The urban population in Asia and Africa increased from 17 to 37% between 1950 to 2000 and is expected to reach 55% by 2030. By then, according to current projections, most of the cities with a population of over twenty million will be located in the non-western world. Common characteristics of these cities are the massive social dislocation, polarizing inequality, uneven distribution of resources and congestion, pollution and environmental degradation. The disparities and injustices in the social structure are reflected in the structures of these cities: wasteful modern enclaves and affluent suburbs juxtaposed with crumbling historic centers and the ever increasing slums and shanty towns often constituting more than half of the city's population. The paper attempts to analyze some of the underlying reasons which have shaped these cities and explore how urban development can be related to the development of the society as a whole and what governments, architects, city planners and citizens can do to save their cities from a crisis.