Siempre que el aumento de la velocidad fuera proporcional con el aumento de la riqueza territorial, medida en sus índices de extracción y elaboración, se mantendría el equilibrio en las funciones económicas de los núcleos poblados, pero hasta la fecha [1936] y particularmente en territorios de colonización el aumento de la velocidad ha sido muy superior al incremento de la riqueza territorial.

Se evoca la labor de un profesional chileno, el arquitecto y urbanista Luis Muñoz Maluschka (1896-1974), en el marco de un período de cincuenta años de aportes relevantes en planificación urbana y ordenamiento territorial realizados desde el Ministerio de Obras Públicas de Chile./The work of a Chilean professional architect and city planner, Luis Muñoz Maluschka (1896-1974) is commented. In fifty years he has made important contributions to urban planning and land arrangement from the Ministerio de Obras Publicas (Ministry of Public Works.)

The goal of the National Land Policy in Malawi is to ensure tenure security and equitable access to land, to facilitate the attainment of social harmony and broad based social and economic development through optimum and ecologically balanced use of land and land based resources.A number of specific land policy objectives have to be satisfied in order to achieve the overall goal, particularly: a) Promote tenure reforms that guarantee security and instill confidence and fairness in all land transactions: Guarantee secure tenure and equitable access to land without any gender bias and/or disc

Data from many countries show that the concentration of poverty and malnutrition is shifting from rural to urban areas. Although many rural people move to the cities seeking to improve their well-being, they often remain mired in poverty and squalor. Rampant violence, flimsy housing, and filthy living conditions, along with hunger and malnutrition, are becoming the daily lot for more and more people as cities grow.

How can links between disaster mitigation and urban planning be strengthened? Can urban livelihood strategies reduce poor city dwellers’ vulnerability to disaster? Scant attention is currently paid by relief organisations to urban planning and disaster mitigation, according to a recent Care International report.

Can the twin developmental goals of administrative decentralisation and improving services for the urban poor be meshed? How can urban authorities and local politicians learn to listen to service users, particularly women? What services should be run by municipalities and what could be managed by neighbourhood or private management?

How can young people be involved in creating more livable cities? Can the noble participation principles set forth in the Convention on the Rights of the Child, Agenda 21 of the Earth Summit, and Habitat II be realised? What is being done to help young people, especially children in difficult circumstances, to get their voices heard by policy-makers?

Could more efficient use of energy have an impact on poverty alleviation? What changes in energy use patterns are likely to generate the greatest benefits for the poor? What are the constraints on the uptake of energy efficiency measures? Can they be overcome?

How can integrative analysis (IA) of city systems improve understanding of the links between environmental and social problems? Can this analysis inform future decision- making? Collaborative research by the Australian National University and Mahidol University, Thailand, uses IA to analyse environmental problems, land use, and behaviour patterns in Bangkok. Do the roots of the city’s environmental problems lie in the nature of decision-making by stakeholders at every level, as the article suggests?