The world has changed remarkably since the Habitat ii Conference took place in istanbul in 1996. twenty years appears to be a short span of time, but our ideas, practices, modes of production and consumption, demographic structures, as well as education and health conditions have drastically changed.  the way cities are shaped, their form and functionality have also been transformed over these years.  Many of these changes have been for the better, but others for the worst. The growth of the world’s cities, from the north to the south, and from the east to the west, is ingrained in a culture of short-term economic benefit and often unbridled consumption and production practices that compromise the sustainability of the environment. the causes may vary according to different contexts, but uncontrolled growth, privatization of public goods, lack of regulations and institutions as well as forms of collective indolence are often the key factors behind a model of urbanization that is becoming highly unsustainable. Urbanization is at the same time a positive force underpinning profound social, political and economic transformation