Following an overview of the world’s urban landscape, Chapter 2 looks at the status of children in urban settings through the lens of international human rights instruments and development goals. Chapter 3 examines some of the phenomena shaping the lives of children in urban areas, from their reasons for coming to the city and their experience of migration to the challenges posed by economic shocks, violence and acute disaster risk. Many cities have been able to contain or banish diseases that were widespread only a generation ago.