This Quick Guide looks at some of the current trends in urbanisation in Asia. The report explains a need to see urban poor settlements as not as problems, but as sources of energy and important contributions to the production of housing. Trends explored include rural-urban migration and the links between urbanisation and poverty. The guide also looks at the state of low-income housing – both formal and informal – in this urbanizing context. Some housing and land policies and programmes are examined including those which have made problems worse, and those which show new opportunities to make them better.

This Quick Guide is the first of a seven part series.