Th e Urban Development Series discusses the challenge of urbanization and what it
will mean for developing countries in the decades ahead. Th e series delves substantively
into the core issues framed by the World Bank’s 2009 Urban Strategy, Systems of Cities:
Harnessing Urbanization for Growth and Poverty Alleviation. Across the fi ve domains of
the Urban Strategy, the series provides a focal point for publications that seek to foster
a better understanding of the core elements of the city system, pro-poor policies, city
economies, urban land and housing markets, urban environments, and other issues
germane to the agenda of sustainable urban development.
Cities and Climate Change: Responding to an Urgent Agenda is the fi rst title in the
Urban Development Series.