When rural life was still dominant in nowadays industrialized countries, cities were often seen by villagers as the domain of evil, the realrn of corruption and violence. The process of accelerated urbanization and economic development was then secn as inherently wicked. The widely publicized criminality and violence observed today in several metropolises of both the developed and developing world would seem to justify a posteriori this bucolic bias. The alarming surge of crime and violence in Mexico, Rio or Sao Paulo during the last 20 years or so might indeed be the result of an excessively rapid growth of these" gigapolises". Likewise, the increasing minor criminality experienced today in many large citics' suburbs in developed countries might be the delayed consequences of an urbanization process whieh was too quick and insufficiently controlled.

Yet, all experiences arc not alike. There are big cities in the world whcrc erime and violence rates are at a tolerable level and have shown no sign of inereasing with their geographical or demographic size. They may have other problems like pollution or congestion, but they show that urbanization is not necessarily that evil and that economic development