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The paper focuses on the problem of non-descript spatial structures, characterized by the absence of street and place names as well as the lack of unambiguous physical addresses in Cameroon. Initially, the problem is examined in its continental context. Then, it is discussed with specific reference to Cameroon. It is noted that efforts on the part of Cameroonian authorities to address the problem have at best been half-hearted. In particular, the efforts have been limited to the country's two largest cities, Douala and Yaounde, and have focused exclusively on street and place naming while ignoring the lack of physical addresses. It is noted that the toponymic inscription problem, and especially the absence of physical addresses, limit the chances of benefiting from the advantages offered by the globalization process for Cameroon and other African countries. It recommends some steps that can be adopted in efforts to deal with this problem. Prominent in this regard is a proposed unambiguous physical addressing system that builds on Cameroon's extant geo-administrative and vehicle matriculation system.

International theory and practice have promoted state-assisted upgrading of ‘informal’ urban areas worldwide since the late 1970s, with various forms of monitoring and assessment of impact. Two independent studies of how residents perceive and evaluate such interventions have recently been undertaken for neighbouring parts of the upgraded area of Novos Alagados on the Itapagipe peninsula in the northwestern part of Salvador, Brazil's third largest city. These studies start from different premises and have been implemented in very different ways, but both have the objective of permitting the ‘voice’ of the residents to be heard concerning the upgrading process. Comparing them helps highlight the essential ‘fuzzy’ nature of values concerning urban interventions of this nature and leaves us with thought-provoking questions concerning the role of local society in relation to the state in urban development, and the potential this has for on-going forms of urban management in cities which are emerging globally.

While the importance of urban management in achieving sustainable urban development is increasingly recognised as being significant by urban managers and the general public, there is still a great deal of confusion and misunderstanding in China about the substance of urban management, which impedes effective implementation. This paper examines some of the problems encountered in urban management practice in Chinese cities, and highlights the importance of a holistic conceptual understanding, and a strategic model for enhancing urban management capacities in the Chinese context. Focusing on a case study of Guangzhou Development District (GDD), the paper demonstrates that the application of a set of measurable evaluative criteria for assessing urban management performance is useful in improving urban management practice.

The Peruvian Forum of Cities for Life has promoted and worked for the implementation of Local Agenda 21 since 1997. The technical assistance and capacity building support for Local Agenda 21 in Peru's cities has produced many project initiatives and investments plans, has contributed to modifications in local planning norms and boosted the work of environmental NGOs. Over the coming years when the environmental infrastructure projects get implemented all this is expected to show visible impacts for the quality of life and will be seen as the foundation for a continuous participatory and sustainable process of city development and environmental improvements. The weakness of the Peruvian Agenda 21 process has been and continues to be, however, the constrained funding situation for municipal investments. The relevance of the Peruvian Agenda 21 experience can be seen in the fact that it has filled a void in urban planning, has assumed the role of a stimulator of participatory processes and concerted action. Agenda 21 has contributed to a significant rise in environmental and urban consciousness of the local institutions and the general public. The successful application of a combined approach of awareness raising, education, capacity building and technical assistance is the real message of this experience of the Forum of Cities for Life and its Peru Urban Management Education Program (PEGUP).

The paper examines public sector management of urban growth and development in the Riyadh Metropolitan Area, Saudi Arabia. The focus of the paper is on institutional capacity building and development intervention. The paper traces changes in public sector management structures and development activities over the history of the city with the aim of assessing development impact and identifying forces that have shaped the evolving state of urban management. The paper notes that urban management has significantly improved with time but the persistence of urban problems coupled with projections of future growth point to the need for further improvements. The paper, in conclusion, while acknowledging the utility of the metropolitan development strategy (MEDSTAR) being formulated for the city, points to the need for broader administrative reform to improve the ability to cope with long-term challenges of growth in the city. Some issues that reform could address are suggested.

The paper outlines a concept of integrated urban management and demonstrates with an example the importance of applying scientific principles in urban management including planning control to achieve efficiency and equity in urban development. It is argued that the principle of productivity, which is the essence of management, is equally applicable in urban management at various levels, to achieve the goals in the urban sector and of the urban organizations, ensuring efficient use of resources which are scarce quantities. Some techniques of urban management to improve productivity are discussed and two optimizing urban development models are presented which can be used as tools to improve productivity at the urban development project level. Application of the models is illustrated with example problems.

This paper is attempting to peg-out the particular role of ‘development support communication’ (DSC) for urban management in developing countries, for the interaction or interface between the public, the private, the non-governmental and the community sectors. The aim of this paper is to advocate to urban managers the inclusion of DSC among their management instruments, and in particular during the preparation and implementation of particular programmes and projects. The point is made that DSC will increase the chances for success of development projects and programmes, and that it will help to improve the relationships of urban stakeholders among each other.

In international public health and other disciplines there is a debate about the use of process versus impact (sometimes referred to as outcome) indicators in project evaluations. With growing international and national support for Healthy City Projects in developing countries it is timely to address the issue of how to evaluate such projects. This paper briefly describes process and impact indicators, considers the importance of process indicators given the role of institutional strengthening and capacity building in Healthy City Projects and discusses the balance between locally and internationally generated indicators. A case study of the first Healthy City Project in a developing country in Asia (Chittagong, Bangladesh) illustrates how the project is linked with urban management and can enhance co-operation, co-ordination, motivation, internal organisation, decentralisation and community participation. Finally, some institutional indicators for evaluation are suggested.

The city of Sao Paulo has huge intra-urban differentials in terms of access to goods and services. This paper analyses how the public agencies responsible for the provision of selected goods and services in that city address such a problem; and explains the relationship between the institutional framework of urban management in Sao Paulo and its performance regarding the issue under scrutiny. The paper uses the theoretical framework of the school of regulation as a tool for analysis of changes in the structure of urban management (from a Fordist to a post-Fordist period). The constraints faced by the public institutions to combat intra-urban differentials are presented, and a number of policy implications are put forward. They relate to decentralisation, inter-agency relations, the role of international organisations, and the three forces which are likely to push the implementation of pro-equalitarian policies.

After having been around for 8 years as the international community’s largest multi-agency global support programme for urban development in developing countries, is it still necessary to provide professional peers with the basic facts on the Urban Management Programme (UMP)? Apparently, yes, as in their article “The World Bank’s New Urban Management Programme: Paradigm Shift or Policy Continuity?” (Habitat International 18(3), 1994), even seasoned scholars in the field like Gareth Jones and Peter Ward erroneously equate the UMP with the World Bank’s urban policy. As this is such a fundamental misunderstanding, it does not seem worthwhile to criticise the article by Jones and Ward. Obviously the UMP information equivalent of basic sex education has not yet sufficiently penetrated circles of first world students of Third World urban development issues, and it may therefore be more useful to summarise what the UMP is, how it has evolved over the years, how it operates at present, what lessons have been learnt and what future perspectives it promises. Readers who would like to have more detailed information are encouraged to write to the Programme Coordinator, Urban Management Programme, UNCHS (Habitat), telephone 254-2-623218, facsimile 254-2-624264, P.O. Box 30030, Nairobi, Kenya.

The World Bank has provided an important leadership role in setting the agenda for housing and land market analyses, and for identifying policy approaches. Although the Bank has traditionally lent only a small proportion of its budget for urban purposes, about 4–5%, it is by far the world's largest multilateral aid agency providing two-thirds of global planning aid, the proportion of which is dedicated to cities is set to grow substantially in the next decade as part of the World Bank-UNDP-UNCHS ‘New’ Urban Management Program. This paper reviews the fundamental assumptions on which the New Urban Management Program is based. It proposes that the apparently ‘new’ strategy to emerge from the Bank is, on closer inspection, not so new after all. Nor does it seem likely that the current approach will be more effective than any of the previous conventional wisdom strategies promoted by the Bank throughout the past two decades. The latest paradigm is not necessarily the best, nor is it likely to be the last.

Credit needs to be given to the authors for a well researched review of the World Bank's urban policy although one may or may not agree with their views. Both the World Bank Urban Policy and the authors' views regarding this raise a number of interesting issues. However, at the outset, some of the authors' basic premises need to be understood and discussed before moving on to more specific aspects. The authors consider that the New Urban Management Programme (NUMP) as well as Urban Policy and Economic Development: An Agenda for the 1990s (1991) represent the World Bank's Urban Policy. My understanding is that the NUMP is still an on-going research programme executed by the UNCHS and the World Bank. Obviously, the thinking of the World Bank staff concerned is reflected in the various documents produced by the programme, and to this extent reviewing the NUMP together with World Bank policy may be appropriate, but one needs to recognize that staff views and World Bank policy may not necessarily be the same.

The paper discusses the history, organisational and policy structure of the Nigerian urban planning scene. It provides some insights into the characteristics of colonial and post-colonial planning frameworks in the country, using specific examples. The contention in the paper is that, even in the face of a very rapid urban growth and acute urban management problem, planning in Nigeria has continuously exhibited policy and institutional inconsistency, fragmentation and an absence of demonstrable national commitment.