This book focuses on the institutional framework and its impact on the effectiveness of urban government in managing urban growth in Africa, Asia and Latin America. It examines the various characteristics which make up the framework - the structure of urban government agencies, the division of tasks between them, their staffing and resource bases, their internal organisation and management processes, their relations with central government and their interaction with private and community organisations. It has aimed to analyse how far differences in these characteristics contribute to effectiveness (or detract from it). In doing so it acknowledges fully that the institutions themselves are only one set of factors determining the success or failure of urban government. (Adapté de l'introduction).