The State of the World’s Cities 2006/7

What comes out clearly in this Report is that slum formation is neither inevitable nor acceptable. “Running the poor out of town” - through evictions or discriminatory practices - is not the answer: rather, helping the poor to become more integrated into the fabric of urban society is the only long-lasting and sustainable solution to the growing urbanization of poverty. Ultimately, as the developing world becomes more urban and as the locus of poverty shifts to cities, the battle to achieve the Millennium Development Goals will have to be waged in the world’s slums.