1. Cities as consumers of the world's environment -- 2. The Rio Declaration and subsequent global initiatives -- 3. A rough road out of Rio: the right-wing reaction in the United States against global environmentalism -- 4. Contradictions at the local scale : local implementation of Agenda 21 in the USA -- 5. Britain : unsustainable cities -- 6. Sustainability and urban policy in Germany : retrospect and prospect -- 7. Japanese urban policy : challenges of the Rio Earth Summit -- 8. China's urban environmental sustainability in a global context -- 9. Agenda 21 and urban India -- 10. After Rio : environmental policies and urban planning in Sweden -- 11. Poland : on the way to a market economy -- 12. Recent Australian urban policy and the environment : green or mean? -- 13. Jakarta, Indonesia : kampung culture or consumer culture? -- 14. After Rio : urban environmental governance?