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The urban environment has received unparalleled attention
in the recent international debate on development. The United
Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio
de Janeiro, 1992 (the 'Earth Summit') is now recognised
as the landmark occasion when the world as a whole acknowledged
- clearly and emphatically - the importance of the environment
for social and economic development. This was articulated
in Agenda 21, the Conference's global agenda for action
which highlighted the importance of sustainable human settlements
and emphasised cross-sectoral coordination, decentralisation
of decision-making, and broad-based participatory approaches
to development management. The Second United Nations World
Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat II - the 'City
Summit') in Istanbul in 1996, took this point further in
a global agenda for cooperation by acknowledging the direct
and vital contribution that productive and sustainable cities
can make to social and economic advancement. This understanding
has been widely accepted among those concerned with the
management of cities around the world, and has become the
basis of new concepts and approaches to urban environment-development
relationships. In brief, the argument has three points:
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