Based on a presentation from the Millennium Festival of Medicine

Rapidly growing cities in Africa, Asia, and Latin America are often seen as presenting among the world's most intractable problems in terms of improving health. This is especially so their for low income citizens, whose tenements and squatter settlements are among the world's most life threatening living and working environments. Rapid urbanisation may even be considered to be “a problem.” But rapid urbanisation is usually associated with economic success. Furthermore, an increasing concentration of people in urban areas lowers unit costs for many forms of infrastructure and services that improve health. I have summarised key trends in urban change and some of the opportunities provided for improving health within an urbanising population. I have also highlighted how it is the quality of governance at city and municipal level that determines whether these opportunities are realised.1