The giant city of today is a unique phenomenon. Never before have such acute problems of government, the provision of essential services, planning, social life, and civilized living arisen from uncontrolled urbanization. In the West and in the East, in the more developed and in the less developed countries, in capitalist and communist states, the great metropolis represents a problem of the first importance which challenges the statesman, the official, the town planner, the political scientist, the sociologist and, above all, the intelligent citizen.