This volume devotes special attention to the urban environment, a major focus of Habitat II the United Nations Conference on Human Settlements scheduled for June 1996 in Istanbul, Turkey. Urban environmental conditions are important to the health and quality of life of a city's inhabitants and can impose significant costs on economic and social development. The impact of urban areas on the surrounding environment is also an issue of growing concern. More than half of humankind will live in urban areas by the end of the century, and 60 percent by 2020. In most nations, cities generate a majority of the economic activity, ultimately consume most of the natural resources, and produce most of the pollution and waste. Thus, urban environmental issues, although often overlooked, are important both locally and on national and global scales. Neglect of these issues could compromise larger economic, social, and environmental goals in both developed and developing countries.

This volume also surveys a number of current trends in the global environment and their implications for the future. Most of these trends show worsening environmental problems, suggesting that many national and international environmental goals will not be met without extensive policy reform and significant changes in current practices and strategies. On the positive side, however, this volume also reports a significant environmental milestone, the partial phaseout of production of ozone-depleting chemicals.