This publication concentrates on city problems and special city planning issues in the world's large cities, pinpointing their demographic characteristics, economic structure, available social services, and infrastructures, as well as current issues facing city planners. Profiles of 100 large cities across the world, from Abidjan to Yangon, make up 256 of 301 total pages. Population ranking was not the only criterion for selection of the cities; that would have resulted in a disproportionately large number of cities in China. Most of the cities profiled have populations of more than 500,000, but a few smaller cities were selected to maintain a balanced geographic representation. Cities are included from the following regions: (1) 18 from Africa; (2) 29 from Asia; (3) 24 from Europe; (4) 20 from Latin American and the Caribbean; (5) 4 from Northern America; and (6) 5 from Oceania. These descriptions highlight the tremendous diversity in the experiences of the world's large cities. Increasing urbanization means different things in different places, but it causes a general demand for land, a demand that is one of the major challenges facing most cities in the immediate future. The profiles do not contain any information specifically about education. (Contains 19 general references and 489 references related to the city profiles.) (SLD)