Abstract

How can productive cities be created in the face of economic, social, political and environmental mishaps in planning, management and development process? How can cities become more enjoyable, functional and innovative using city management and development theories? Theoretically the paper examines the importance of cities and impact of urbanization and globalization towards competitiveness of cities. The paper argues that; despite the huge benefits accrued to cities via globalization, most developing cities are suffering from intolerably high levels of poor infrastructure and governance. The interlinks between an array of theories and city development and management forms the focus of the paper. The paper makes its contribution by: examining and discussing the theoretical undertones for sustainable cities and concluded with a set of recommendations on what needs to be done to achieve sustainable city development and management.

Key words:  Cities, theories, globalization, sustainability, poverty, governance.