In its 8 February 2008 issue, Science explores the ramifications of urban transformation. News articles offer an on-the-ground look at how cities are tackling specific problems from poverty and sanitation to traffic jams. Reviews and Perspectives examine how cities take shape and the impacts of urbanization on the environment, human health, economic growth, and the demographics of the developing world. A related podcast segment discusses the tradeoffs between urban living and fertility, and an online video presentation accompanies the issue.

In Science

INTRODUCTION TO SPECIAL ISSUE Reimagining Cities  Caroline Ash, Barbara R. Jasny, Leslie Roberts, Richard Stone, Andrew M. Sugden NEWS China's Living Laboratory in Urbanization  Dennis Normile Calming Traffic on Bogotá's Killing Streets  Jon Cohen Durban's Poor Get Water Services Long Denied  Robert Koenig Pipe Dreams Come True  Jon Cohen Rebuilt From Ruins, a Water Utility Turns Clean and Pure  Erik Stokstad Living in the Danger Zone  Jennifer Couzin Choking on Fumes, Kolkata Faces a Noxious Future  Yudhijit Bhattacharjee From Gasoline Alleys to Electric Avenues  Eli Kintisch Unclogging Urban Arteries  Elizabeth Quill Upending the Traditional Farm  Gretchen Vogel Imagining a City Where (Electrical) Resistance Is Futile  Daniel Clery Money--With Strings--to Fight Poverty  Jocelyn Kaiser Building on a Firm Foundation  Jocelyn Kaiser

Online Extras Video Presentation Watch a video introduction on the problems, prospects, and science of cities, featuring researchers Michael Batty, Nancy Grimm, and Jesse Ausubel, as well as Science Asia News Editor Richard Stone. Lower-bandwidth version of video Podcast The 8 February Science Podcast includes an interview with researcher Ruth Mace on patterns of reproduction in modern cities. [More podcasts] REVIEWS Global Change and the Ecology of Cities  Nancy B. Grimm, Stanley H. Faeth, Nancy E. Golubiewski, Charles L. Redman, Jianguo Wu, Xuemei Bai, John M. Briggs Urbanization and the Wealth of Nations  David E. Bloom, David Canning, Günther Fink PERSPECTIVES The Urban Transformation of the Developing World  Mark R. Montgomery Reproducing in Cities  Ruth Mace Health and Urban Living  Christopher Dye The Size, Scale, and Shape of Cities  Michael Batty