Introduction: looking for agents of urban livability in a globalized political economy / Peter Evans -- Urban poverty and the environment: social capital and state-community synergy in Seoul and Bangkok / Mike Douglass, Orathai Ard-am, and Ik Ki Kim -- Collective action toward a sustainable city: citizens' movements and environmental politics in Taipei / Hsin-Huang Michael Hsiao and Hwa-Jen Liu -- Community-driven regulation: toward an improved model of environmental regulation in Vietnam / Dara O'Rourke -- Social and spatial inequalities in Hungarian environmental politics: a historical perspective / Zsuzsa Gille -- "Water, water, everywhere, nor any drop to drink": land use and water policy in São Paulo, Brazil / Margaret E. Keck -- Sustainability, livelihood, and community mobilization in the Ajusco "ecological reserve" / Keith Pezzoli -- Political strategies for more livable cities: lessons from six cases of development and political transition / Peter Evans.