With around 90 percent of urban growth worldwide taking place in developing nations and at a rapid pace, city planners are in a race against time to put in place the right policies that will benefit future generations, the bank said.

"Urbanisation in developing countries may be the single greatest change in our century," it said in a book outlining how the bank can help cities achieve economic growth and still have clean air and water and expansive greenery.

The programme was developed by an international team of experts from urban planning, transport, energy water and waste management and draws from the experiences of well-managed cities around the world.

It incorporates the best practices from model cities such as Singapore, Stockholm in Sweden, Yokohama in Japan and Curitiba in Brazil.

In cooperation with the bank, other cities in developing countries can implement these practices, principles and other practical methods and tools in accordance with their own local conditions.

The programme complements the bank's efforts to promote sustainable development and help cut greenhouse gas emissions blamed for climate change.

Entitled "Ecological Cities as Economic Cities", the book cites projections that developing countries will treble their entire built-up urban area from 200,000 square kilometres (77,220 square miles) to 600,000 square km (231,661 square miles) between 2000 and 2030.

"One could say we are building a 'whole new world' at about 10 times the speed in countries with severe resource constraints," says the book, launched in Singapore at the weekend.

The rise of urban centres cannot be avoided because on average about 75 percent of global economic production takes place in cities, the book says.

In many developing countries the share of urban centres in the total national economic output is over 60 percent, it notes.

But while urbanisation has helped lift millions of people out of poverty, it has also led to an "unprecedented consumption and loss of natural resources", the book says.

Lack of planning and an explosion in population growth has led to pollution, urban blight, poor water and sanitation conditions and the mushrooming of slum areas.

"Calculations already show that if developing countries urbanise and consume resources as developed countries have, an ecological resource base as large as four planet Earths would be needed to sustain growth," the book says.

It adds however that cities like Singapore, Stockholm, Yokohama and Curitiba have shown that economic growth, high-quality living standards and protection of the environment can go together.

The book notes that many of the solutions adopted by these cities "are affordable even when budgets are limited, and they generate returns including direct benefits to the poor".

Yumiko Noda, the deputy mayor of Yokohama, said at a seminar on "liveable cities" held in Singapore to coincide with the book's launching that citizens' involvement was crucial to a city's success.

Yokohama in 2001 planned to cut the city's waste by 30 percent within 10 years but achieved its goal in just five years.

This has saved the city money and also slashed its carbon dioxide emissions, she said.

Jim Adams, World Bank vice president for East Asia and the Pacific, said the pace of urbanisation has highlighted the urgency for an integrated economic and ecological approach to development.

"There is only a short space of time in which to make an impact on how this development takes place," he said in a statement.

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