Globally, the urban population continues to grow at 2.4% annually, over three times as fast as for rural areas. Of this growth, over the next 30 years, 93% will occur in cities in developing countries. It is critical that we plan and manage these urban centres so they can exist in balance with the natural environment while supporting and sustaining their human populations and economic base. Today, urban and community planners, developers and politicians are making decisions based upon physical infrastructure designed a hundred years ago. Likewise the current planning and development choices they make will affect the form and quality of life in cities for the next hundred years.

Typically, the patterns of decision making around urban form, infrastructure, and community services are characterized by short term driving forces, including fiscal incentives or disincentives, responses to natural or man-made crises, media reports, public opinion and lobbying by special interest groups. Those making decisions about financing are faced with competing interests and incomplete information about the impacts of decisions made for one part of the urban system on other parts. Decisions about one-off community or urban projects, involving small or vast sums of money, are usually made outside of an integrated vision or plan. In light of growing demands, limited resources and climate change, there is a need for rational frameworks and explicit criteria within which decisions can be made that will lead to long-term urban sustainability.