The urban policy mission was born out of IDRC's experience in supporting urban and local government in South Africa. At the request of the democratic movement, the Mission was charged with identifying the building blocks for a new national urban policy. Its September 1992 report set out the requirements for the formulation, implementation, and evaluation of urban policy and the long-term management of the urban sector in South Africa.
This volume presents the Mission's original report, together with a foreword by Nelson Mandela and a new, in-depth, and critical assessment of the Mission's work and its impact on the urban policy debate in South Africa.