Housing is becoming the most commanding building task of the immediate future. And solving the world’s mass housing problems will be a crucial test for man’s intellectual soberness and organizational capacity. By the end of this century, more dwellings than the total number mankind has built in its entire existence must be constructed. About half the population of Africa, Asia, and Latin America – over 1000 million people – are currently homeless or living in subnormal housing which is both hazardous and humiliating to the dwellers. Population growth and rural/urban migration lead to overcrowding and uncontrolled development of settlements around cities that lack basic amenities. These spontaneous squat meets – rural solutions to urban problems – choke programs of economic development, reduce urban efficiency, and produce many varieties of environmental pollution. Considering the anticipated explosive increase in urbanization (Figure 1), existing substandard settlements are small in comparison with those yet to come.  If not planned for in advance, the majority of the world’s population will be permanently living in substandard, often improvised dwellings and chaotic environments by the end of the century.