We live in a world of cities. In 2007, for the first time, there were more urban than rural inhabitants globally. For a long time, scientists have been describing the patterns of urbanization, distinguishing between the urban developments in the old industrialized countries and those in the Global South. However, social geographer and spatial planner Einhard Schmidt-Kallert has observed many different pathways and even regionally specific urbanization patterns in southern countries, and he aims to capture the diversity of these processes in his book. He addresses questions such as: Why do people leave rural areas for cities? How do they find housing? How do children live in the city? How do people deal with violence? What is the role of urban planning? Schmidt-Kallert's accessible language and his shift in perspective between the stories of immigrants on one hand and the...